Mistakes in Blood
by Acolyte of Truth
Summary: The last thing Naruto remembered was a feeling of blinding rage, and in a flash of red, he left all he knew behind. Or so he thought. It seems that Naruto's mistakes have followed him to this new world, and will stop at nothing to ruin his life again.
1. A New Life

Welcome to my second story, well, technically third, but the other one was deleted, so we'll say second. Either way, you should know that while this is a sequel, you don't need to read the predecessor, because, let's face it, despite the fifty-some reviews telling me otherwise, it was crap. If you wish to read it, it may clear some things up early on, but all will be explained eventually.

I'm hoping this will gain me a bigger fan-base as well. I just wish I had managed to get this out earlier, wanting to have the First Naruto/Mizore exclusive story, seeing as I've been planning since September, but the ones that came out before this are also very well written. Well, enough of this. I've wasted enough of your time, so let's get on with it.

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Disclaimer: Well, I don't own any of the shit I write about, and that's that. Let's move on.

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Chapter 1: A New Life

It was black. All he could see was the inky darkness that clouded his vision. He didn't know where he was, and he doubted he wanted to. He could barly remember how he had gotten into this situation.

'_**-ruto.' **_The blonde attempted to look for the source of the noise, but didn't even know if he was moving. He was beginning to feel disoriented._**'Naru-.'**_ There was the voice again. It was deep and gurtle, he relized, and sounded slightly familiar. _**'Naruto, wake up.'**_

Slowly, light began to cut trough the darkness as it leaked through the blonde's eyelids in an amalgamation of colours. The colours began to take shape in the form of trees, grass, and the moon as his eyes opened blearily. When they opened completely, he just stared up at the moon, motionless. His head hurt. '_The hell am I?'_

'_**GET UP!' **_the blonde rocketed forewords as the roar tore through his skull, a deep burning sensation soon following. He gripped at his head with one hand while using the other to aid him in sitting up, his face contorted in pain. The ache soon subsided as he dropped his hand.

Naruto once again opened his eyes to take in his surroundings. There were trees, that much he could discern. He also figured it was night, as the moon and stars were out. In fact he would have said he was in the forest, if it weren't for the fact that there was plenty of sound coming from nearby, many he didn't quit recognize.

He stood now, fighting off his dizziness and the feeling in his legs, both of which protested his rush to find out what happened. He began to take shaky steps towards the source of the sounds, and when he got to the tree line and pushed away some branches to get a better look, he felt his jaw and his stomach drop.

He was almost blinded by the sheer number of lights he saw, all in a vast variety of shapes and colours. Sure, back in Konoha there had been neon signs and the like, but never this many in one area. What really caught his eyes, though, were the small metal caravans that moved without the aid of horses.

He soon began to cough as a new smell invaded his nostrils, a combination of melting plastic, sewage, and a few other things he didn't recognize. When he finally caught his breath, three words escaped his mouth. "What the fuck?!? W-where am I?!? How'd this happen?!?"

Then, it all came back to him. Haku's disappearance, her apparent death, the man in the cloak apparently responsible for it all. His rage, and finally, a red light that enveloped his world followed by the darkness. He dropped to his knees as the vivid images played in front of his eyes over and over again as he just looked straight ahead, but not really seeing. Even after the images stopped he remained like this.

A voice broke through his head. _**'Do you finally understand?'**_

"Kyuubi." Was all Naruto could say as he fell foreword, catching himself with his hands as he began to pant, physical and mental exhaustion rearing there heads.

'_**Does it make sense now?' **_said the Bijuu once more_**.**_

"What do you mean?"

'What I mean is, do you finally see that even though you may be immortal, you are not infallible? Does it make sense to you?'

"I thought you cut me off. How did I do this? Where are we?"

'I did. I wanted to see if you really wanted power. You reestablished the connection, gaining access to my chakra once again. However, you accessed too much at once. You see, when a jinchuuriki uses a Bijuu's chakra, tails form to better help them control it. Your pure rage called upon so much, that tails didn't have time to form. Now, you remember when you were first learning about Jashin-sama? My theory is that we were close to one of the portals that connect the inter-dimensional plains of existence, and that the sudden influx of my chakra ripped the portal open, sucking in anything close enough to it. As for where we are, I can't be sure without further proof.'

Naruto once again got to his feet, once again looking out to the vista of this new world to him. "So, what do I do now?"

The beast gave a rumbling reply. _**'It would be best if you followed a person of your own age around for a while, but that can wait until tomorrow. For now, I would think about acquiring some new clothing to help you blend in.'**_

Naruto took a quick inventory of himself and immediately agreed. His pants were in taters and his sandals were barly holding up. He wished he could say as much for his shirt and cloak, but only fringes of both remained, showing off his lithe muscles, his silver pendant that identified him as a jashinist, and the rope that was looped around his chest that connected to his serrated wakizashi.

With a sigh, he hid his blade in some nearby bushes and jumped off into the night to find a clothing store that was still open at this time, hoping that the money that survived his little cross-dimensional trip was accepted here.

/////

After a few minutes of searching, Naruto found a clothing store that was still open. He received more than a few stares as he walked in, not surprising, really, but he just brushed them off. He walked over to one of the racks of clothes and began to look through them. He repeated this process a few times and then walked over to the far wall, which housed shoes.

Once he found a suitable pair he proceeded to the checkout counter and put his new articles of clothing in front of the cashier. He watched with boredom as the man behind the register punched a few numbers into the machine and rang up his clothes.

"That will be 1,400 ryo, sir." (1) The blonde let out a low whistle and pulled his wallet out of his pocket, glad he had chained it to his pants to keep it from being lost. He handed the approximate amount to the man and got his change back, and then he left.

Once outside, he quickly turned into an alley and shed his old clothing, taking his wallet out of the scrap of cloth that was once his pants, and dawned his new outfit. Now dressed in some black cargo pants, black sneakers, a white long-sleeved shirt, and a black zip-up hoodie, he casually walked down the street, back to the place he came from.

He reached the outcropping of trees and retrieved his sword. _'So, what do I do with this? It's not like I can just carry the fucking thing around from what I've seen.'_

'That's true. Okay, I want you to go find a tattoo parlor.'

'_Now why the fuck would I want a tattoo?'_

'_**SHUT UP! You remember what happened the last time you didn't listen to me, don't you? Now look where we are!' **_Naruto was silent. Although it was not like he could feel the same pain as last time when he didn't listen at this point, he knew he probably shouldn't start a pissing contest he couldn't win. Besides, he needed all the advice he could get at this point.

'_Fine. Continue.'_

When Kyuubi next spoke, his voice was much more mellow. _**'As I was saying, I want you to go to a tattoo parlor and get a tattoo, I don't care what, I don't care where as long as it's easily accessible, just make sure you get a little of your blood and chakra into the ink so that my plan works and you incorporate this kanji into it. You should just have to prick your finger to get enough.'**_ At this point, an image flashed in Naruto's mind.

With a nod, Naruto went back into the city.

/////

A weary Naruto, now with some new ink, came back to his point of emergence, which he by now had affectionately dubbed, "The Shit Hole". He rubbed the last amount of soreness out of his arm as he once again retrieved his sword. It was well past midnight by now as he sat down and contacted the natural disaster. _'So, is there any point to this besides to blow the last of my money?'_

'Yes. Now, I want you to press your sword against your tattoo and concentrate on the chakra running through it.' Naruto removed his hoodie and shirt to reveal a symbol of Jashin on his left bicep with a kanji in the middle of it. He did just as Kyuubi told him, and within seconds the blade was gone in a poof of smoke. His eyes snapped open when he no longer felt anything in his hand and he heard a light pop.

'_What just happened?'_

'You just sealed the sword into your tattoo. If you do what you just did again, it will reappear.'

'_I'll take your word for it.' _he replied as he put his clothes back on.

'Good, now get some rest, you have a big day of stalking ahead of you.'

He lied down and put his arms under his head, looking at the night sky. He could barly see the twinkling lights he could identify as stars. _'Kyuubi, that man, the one who killed Haku-chan, did he come through the portal with us?'_

'_**With as much chakra as you accessed, I can only assume. For now, just focus on fitting in, I'll tech you how to get back to your home later.'**_ Without another word, Naruto closed his eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

/////

Naruto awoke to the sounds of chirping. He opened his eyes to see that the sun had risen, and if he were to make a rough estimate, he would say it was 8:00 in the morning. He got up from his place on the ground and stretched a bit, a series of sharp cracks coming from him as everything became realigned.

With that done, he took off into the city again to become someone's shadow. He should also find a newspaper too, to better help him understand his new environment. He came to a residential district soon after and noticed a boy walking down the streets.

He was a bit tan, and his brown hair stuck out at a few angles. He looked rather average besides that. _'Perfect.'_ Naruto thought.

/////

As perfect as the kid may have been for Naruto and Kyuubi's purposes, through out the week, Naruto had witnessed possibly the dullest life ever. On the day he found him, all he did was walk around town, meet up with some friends, and sit around. The day after that was similar.

The next day, the boy dressed in a uniform and went to school with a bunch of other kids dressed in the same clothes. Naruto didn't like it. It was too… institutional. It only brought more dread upon him when he relized that soon his life was likely to be oh so similar. This was the exact reason he refused to be a civilian.

However, a problem soon arose. _'Kyuubi?'_

'_**What is it?' **_was the demon's grumpy reply.

'_From what I've seen so far, this place is likely to have safeguards and seriously keep track of _everyone _who can be here legally. I'm an unknown. How can I blend in without proper documentation?'_ Naruto surprised Kyuubi with his observations and logic. Hell, he surprised himself, but he wasn't about to let that stop him. Kyuubi just rolled with it.

'_**Good, your learning. As for your question, go to the seediest part of town. Crime is always bound to find a way to seep through even the most advanced civilizations. You will simply receive false documents.'**_ And with that, Naruto was off once again, likely to drain himself of most of his remaining funds. At this rate, he would need a job.

/////

A little over a year later, Naruto was sitting at a desk, just looking out the window. He had just finished a test that would decide if he would continue his education. Naruto didn't see a point in the test, since it was perfectly acceptable for him to get a job now. Kyuubi told him it was best to keep his options open, though. Not like it mattered much, for he knew he didn't do well, not for lack of intelligence, but for lack of motivation. No sane school would accept him

He had yet to start on training to control Kyuubi's chakra, the demon saying now wasn't the time, that they needed the right opportunity. It slightly pissed the blonde off, first with the kitsune wanting him to train any chance he got, now being told to wait by the same kitsune. But, he knew it was his fault to begin with, so he kept his mouth shut.

The class was dismissed, he relized, and he slowly made his way out of the building. There was one thing on his mind, and no matter how long it took, he would wait until the end of time to get it. He reached into his uniform and pulled out his pendant, not stopping even though all of his attention was focused on it. _'I swear to Jashin-sama that I will get my revenge for you Haku-chan, no matter what.'_

/////

A few days later, Naruto was at the post office to get his mail. It's not like he ever expected anything, but he needed it so the school could send home his report cards and shit. Not like it mattered. So he was rather surprised when he found a package and a brochure in his box.

'_The hell?' _he thought as he read where it was from. _'Youkai Academy? You're shitting me. Why the hell would they accept me? Then again, with a name like that, I doubt there're entirely sane. What do you think, Kyuubi? Seems suspicious.'_

'_**I think I know where we are, kid.' **_Said the Bijuu suddenly.

'_Really? It took you this long?' _there was silence. _'Well? Feel like sharing?'_

'_**Not particularly. Just trust me when I say, we may have found our opportunity.' **_So with a sigh, Naruto went to prepare his transfer to the school.

/////

A shadowy figure made its way across various rooftops.___'I can't believe it. We've been here over a year, and we still can't find him.' __**'We don't even know where we are. Hell, is it worth it anymore?'**_ the figure stopped as they found an object at there feet. They read what was on top of it and an idea popped into their head. _'Youkai Academy? With a name like that, I say it's our best bet at finding him.'__**'But do we really want to? Think about it. We're finally free. We could do this just for us.' **__'But we made a promise. We're supposed to watch over him.'__**'We don't even know if he's here. We haven't been able to sense him at all' **__'But we need to try.'_ There was silence as the figure thought it over. _**'Fine, but regardless, we need a more human form. And let's just agree that we will look out for our own interests as well.'**_ And with a consensus reached, the figure was off.

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And there you go. A bit different beginning than I'm sure you're used to, and I can only assume that's good. If for some reason your still with me and liked it, tell me what could be done to make it better. Even if you didn't, tell me so I can try to do to make it better for you. Hell, flame if you feel like to. I almost want to know what it's like, seeing as I got almost no criticism in the last story.

(1) We'll say it's about 140 USD and leave it at that.

Next time, a new arrival at Youkai Academy. What's going to happen? Just wait and see. I'll see you flatlanders in about two weeks.


	2. Starting the School Year Off

How's it goin'? Well, this is a bit early, but usually I'm good at submitting something before the deadline. So, this probably should have been included in the last chapter, but oh well. First off, if you haven't figured it out already, Naruto is a Jashinist. Secondly, Haku was his girlfriend until she was killed and he unleashed a bunch of Kyuubi's chakra. Thirdly, Jashin created Kyuubi and the other Bijuu as a means to remind various plains of existence that he was still there after he left due to sacrilege. I think that's pretty much it, so onwards!

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Disclaimer: Acolyte stands there in the recording studio, reading off of a note card. "Once more! C'mon, we gotta' do this every chapter, so just read your lines! Time's money!" shouted a rather annoying director.

For the twentieth time that hour, Acolyte sighs. "I do not in any way, shape, or form, own the various franchi-…" he started rather miserably.

"Cut!" shouted the director. That was the last straw for Acolyte.

"You know what, go fuck yourself! I can't deal with this guy, have Mike do this, 'cause I'm outta' here!" with that, he stomped out of the studio. Unknown to him, Mike had strep throat and thus could not read the lines, and no one else was willing, leaving the disclaimer unfinished. Oh dear, what will be the fallout?

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Chapter 2: Starting the School Year Off… Well, I Wouldn't Consider it Right

It was early in the morning as Naruto made his way to the place the bus was supposed to pick him up. He was dressed in an unbuttoned green blazer, with a white shirt underneath and a red tie. He also had on a pair of brown slacks. He had a bag tossed over his shoulder. The early morning sun reflected off of his pendant. He had made a point of hiding it before as to avoid any unwanted questions, not that anyone really made a point of interacting with him, but with the way Kyuubi was acting, he no longer felt a need to hide it.

'_Fuck, I hate dressing up. You think that they could at least pick a more appealing colour than _green_. And I think these pants are making me chafe.'_ That was all he thought about as he reached his destination, a simple bench on a street corner. Nothing really made it stand out, so he wasn't even sure if this was where it was supposed to be.

He sighed as he plopped down on it and relaxed, tilting his head to the sky. He was rather glad that he had decided to just lived in the woods. It meant that he hadn't had to get a job to pay rent on an apartment, not like he would ever be able to meet it with going to school most of the time.

As he continued to think about trivial things, he didn't notice as his eyes slowly drifted shut and his breathing became softer. He was asleep before he knew it.

/////

Aono Tsukune was walking down the street in the early morning at a leisurely pace. He had a content smile on his face, knowing that, somehow, he had gotten into a school. Sure he was nervous, but he thought that the good outweighed the bad.

He remembered how earlier his parents had offered to escort him to the bus stop, but he declined, saying he would need to be doing more things for himself from now on. He gave out another content sigh as he spoke to himself. "Man, life is good. I can't believe I actually got in though. This means I'm not a failure!' he chuckled to himself. Poor misguided Tsukune. "I just hope my parents don't rent my room out."

A few minutes later, he was at his destination. He noticed that there was a blonde kid already there, dressed the same way he was. _'Is he going to Youkai Academy too? He looks familiar. I think I've seen him walking in the halls at my old school. Hmm, maybe I already have a new friend.' _So, throwing caution to the wind, he approached Naruto.

"Hey, I'm Aono Tsukune, are you going to Youkai Academy as well?" Naruto peaked an eye open, unaware that he had even fallen asleep, as he heard the voice. He looked at the hand in his face with a confused gaze. He followed it up to its owner and was met with a smiling face.

'_Isn't this the guy I tailed my first day here?' _he wondered. Shrugging, Naruto decided to play nice and grasped the other boy's hand. "Uzumaki Naruto, I suppose it's nice to meet you. And considering I'm wearing the uniform, I would imagine I'm going there."

He watched as the boy gave a nervous chuckle and rubbed the back of his head. "I suppose you're right. That would make sense." The next few minutes were spent in awkward silence as Naruto stared down the still smiling, though obviously uncomfortable, boy. It was then that the bus arrived, sparring the brunette.

Without another word, both got on as the door opened with an, "All aboard." From the bus driver.

/////

'_What the fucks with this guy?' _Naruto thought as he saw the bus driver watching him and Tsukune in the mirror. He was normal enough, in his uniform and hat, smoking a cigar and a little mustache on his face, but what unsettled them was the fact that his eyes were glowing white. Also, the fact that he never seemed to be watching the road and his perpetual smile put off Naruto even more.

Eventually, he spoke. "So, I take it you boys are going to Youkai Academy?" it was Naruto who responded.

"We're on the damn bus, aren't we? Speaking of which, shouldn't you be watching the road?" he said, no small amount annoyed.

"Now what would be the fun in that?" this served to unnerve Tsukune more than he already was, but at least the bus driver stopped talking. Intent on taking his mind off of the seemingly insane man currently putting their lives at risk, he regarded the whiskered blonde next to him.

"So, Naruto-san, I couldn't help but notice your necklace. What does that symbol mean?" he asked, referring to his pendant.

Tsukune received a rather lazy gaze and response. "It's the symbol of my religion."

He expected more, but when it became obvious that it wasn't coming, he prodded further. "And what is your religion?"

"Jashinism." Was the simple reply. Naruto didn't even bother to look at him this time.

"Really? I've never heard of it."

"I'm not surprised." Seeing he was getting nowhere, and that the blonde was becoming annoyed, Tsukune decided to leave him alone.

"Bus Driver-san, how long until we get to Youkai academy?"

"Not much longer. Speaking of which, I would hang on if I were you." This was followed by the bus driver leaning forward a bit as the bus accelerated, headed for a tunnel which no one could see any bit inside of.

"Hey! Slow down, damnit!" shouted Naruto, tired of the bus driver's attitude.

"Hell no." was the simple response he got as they entered the tunnel. At that moment, he could have sworn he was on a bad acid trip. The pitch-black darkness was accompanied by swirling neon colours along the walls. Naruto looked to Tsukune, seeing a similar 'what the fuck' look on his face. Glad that it wasn't just him, Naruto once again directed his attention forward, only to see a bright light getting progressively bigger.

As the rocketed out of the tunnel, the bus driver slammed on his breaks, causing the bus to skid and for both Tsukune and Naruto to bash their heads on the seats in front of them. Nursing the wound on his forehead, Naruto grabbed his bag and looked out the window.

It looked like they were in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but dead trees on the landscape. As the boys got off, the bus driver said one last thing to them as he pulled away back from where he came. "Have a nice day kids. And remember, Youkai Academy can be a veeery scary place indeed."

In front of them was a scarecrow, the only thing but dead trees around for seemingly miles, besides a druggie's nightmare of a tunnel behind them. "Do you think this is the right place?" asked Tsukune as the duo began down the path.

Naruto snorted. "With a name like Youkai Academy, I'm not surprised it's located in a place like this. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a creepy ass cathedral instead of a conventional school."

As they continued to walk, they eventually came upon bones and headstones, causing Tsukune to sweat some more. Naruto acted as if he didn't see anything. "D-do you t-t-think those are r-r-r-real?" the brunette stuttered.

Naruto completely sidestepped the question. "You're annoying, you know that?" a few minutes later, and Naruto had gotten sick of Tsukune jumping whenever someone stepped on a twig. "You know what, find your own way to school! I've had enough!" and with that, the blonde took off into the trees, uncaring that someone had seen some of his shinobi skill.

'_Not like anyone will believe him.' _ He thought. _'Heh, maybe they'll send him home for thinking he's crazy.'_ Traveling at half of his full speed, Naruto had gotten to the school in under a minute. Low and behold, it was, indeed, a creepy ass cathedral. _'I just had to say it, didn't I?' _with a sigh, Naruto followed the other students milling about to what he could only assume to be the auditorium.

/////

Two hours later, a bleary-eyed Naruto emerged from the auditorium and unleashed a monstrous yawn. He had just been subjected to a never-ending line up of teachers welcoming the freshmen to the school and explaining what they taught and how things worked around here. He didn't really pay attention, and after it was over with, had almost forgotten to pick up a schedule.

He wearily looked down at it to see where he would be headed. _'Hmm, homeroom with a Mister Yakasu in room 1-5. Better get going.'_ And so, he was off, with all the speed of a slug that just drank two times its weight in NyQuil.

When he did arrive, he found the room surprisingly empty. He just shrugged and took a seat by the window. As time passed, kids slowly started flowing in, until all the seats were eventually occupied.

A slight chatter filled the room as new acquaintances gossiped and talked about meaningless things. It all stopped as the door opened and in walked a middle-aged man with graying brown hair and light blue eyes with deep bags under them.

He had on a white lab coat with normal clothing underneath. He cleared his throat as he spoke. "Good morning class. As you may know, I am Yakasu-sensei, and I will be your homeroom teacher. I will also be your science teacher. Now, seeing as it wasn't explained to you during the welcoming ceremony, this is a school for monsters to attend, though you already knew that. What you may have not known is that it is imperative to remain in your human forms at all times while on campus."

Naruto sat up straighter at hearing the last parts of the speech. _'Wait, is this for real?' _he looked around to see people either bored out of their minds of giving small nods to show that they understood. _'Well, fuck, Tsukune must be scared shitless.'_

The rest of the class went by rather smoothly, seeing as everyone was rather mellow. It was announced that no classes would be held today so students could get used to their surroundings.

It was soon after that the bell rang, signaling lunch and, subsequently, the end of the day today. Naruto was one of the last to leave. As he walked down the halls, he noticed a commotion going on. It soon became apparent that Tsukune and some pink-haired girl were being harassed by some big dude. He thought maybe, just maybe, he should help. _'Then again, do I really care?'_

No. The answer was no, he did not care what happened to the annoying dumbass or his girlfriend. As he was about to continue on his way, said annoying dumbass was thrown into him. He looked over to the poor sap that did it, and saw him almost molesting the girl. That was something he wouldn't stand for.

"Oi, fuckhead!" he called out as he stood up and pushed Tsukune off of him. The guy looked at him with an almost pissed expression.

"What, can't you see I'm busy here?!? Go bother someone else!"

"Don't just throw random shit at people!"

"Well, don't walk where I'm throwing shit!" at this point, the boy dropped the chick as she ran over to Tsukune. He wearily got up and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Wait up. He's super strong. You're no match for him." he wanted to say more, such as 'Holy shit man! He's a monster. I'm lucky to still have my fucking head!', but for obvious reasons, couldn't.

Naruto shrugged his hand off. "So what, I can take a lot of punishment. Just stand back." He said whilst cracking his knuckles.

"Please don't, violence never solves anything." Pleaded the girl who reminded him a bit of Sakura, in the sense that the bitch never did anything.

"Bah." Was his only reply as he rushed after the guy. Now, in shinobi terms, he was barely mid-chunin speed, but to regular people and some monsters, that was fast. He saw the guy's eyes widen as he delivered a punch to his gut, followed up by an uppercut that lifted him a foot off the ground. He finished the combo with a spin kick, sending the lug tumbling a few yards away into a wall. He was almost surprised to see him get up.

"Bastard, I'll make you pay."

"Heh, bring it."

They were stopped from ripping each other apart by a loud voice. "Hey! Unless you both want detention, break it up!" the source of the voice came from a redheaded man. From the way the man was dressed, Naruto guessed he was the gym teacher.

The other guy gave him one last look and some parting wards before going off down the hall. "Watch your back, kid. This isn't over."

He was about to go off as well, but was stopped by a voice. "Hey, wait up!" he turned to see the girl he helped followed by Tsukune come up to him. "Thank you for the help, would you like to have lunch with us?"

"No thanks." Was all he said as he walked off.

"But…" the girl started.

Tsukune put a hand on the girls shoulder. "It's okay, Moka-san. Naruto-san will eventually come around." In his head, Tsukune was worried, though. _'Just what is he? Never mind that, how am I supposed to survive here? Oh god, what do I do?'_

/////

Naruto had somehow found himself outside, walking through the trees. He didn't know why, nor did he care. He didn't care about much, nowadays. It was by sheer luck that he stumbled upon a little lake, glistening in the light of the sun. It was a contrast to everything else around him. _'Haku would've liked it here.' _He thought somberly.

With that in mind, he took off his jacket and shirt, folding them in a pile a little ways away. He then unsealed his blade and used it to cut his wrist. He clenched his teeth at the feeling of the serrated blade rending the sensitive flesh. He used the blood to draw Jashin's symbol and then lied down in it.

He poised his blade, ready to stab, as he thought back to a conversation he had with Hidan about this practice.

///flashback///

"Hidan-san, why do we stab ourselves?" asked a young Naruto. He watched as the white haired man pulled a stake out of himself and start to clean up. They were currently in him basement, where he prayed regularly.

"We do it to worship Jashin-sama and to provide him with the pain needed to sustain him."

"But isn't that why we kill other people?"

Hidan sighed as he looked at the kid. "And how do we normally kill people?"

"By stabbing ourselves, but why is it required?"

Hidan started up the steps with Naruto trailing behind him. "You see, Jashin-sama needs pain to sustain himself and his plain of existence. It's just how it works. Now, a follower's pain shows dedication, but it's more than that. The passion that comes with it, that makes it so much more meaningful and valuable to Jashin-sama, worth more than a hundred sacrifices. It shows that we care for him. And it reminds us of the mistakes we make in life."

He left it at that and told Naruto to go home. At the time, he didn't really understand it, but that look he had in his eye, he decided not to question it.

///flashback-end///

A content smile made its way onto his face as blood trickled freely from him. He was in a state of bliss. So much, that he didn't notice as another presence made its way into the clearing. That is, until he felt someone nudge his shoulder.

"Hey, are you okay?" his eyes snapped open and he was met with a blue gaze. In front of him was a girl. She had light purple hair that went down to her shoulders, and pupiless blue eyes. She had a lollipop in her mouth and was wearing a white hoodie with purple sleeves that covered her hands. She had the school's skirt and purple striped stockings.

Naruto slowly stood up. "Uhh, I'm fine." It may have sounded stupid, seeing as he had a blade imbedded into his gut, but at the moment, he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Really? Then why did you stab yourself?"

"To remember, I guess." He answered truthfully as he removed the blade. He put a hand over the wound in a show to stop the bleeding. It slowly started healing under his hand.

"How does almost killing yourself help you remember?"

"It was a mistake. It's mostly symbolic, I guess. And it would take a lot more than being stabbed to kill me."

"But why would you want to remember a mistake? Especially if it meant doing this to yourself?"

"So it doesn't happen again. I may not like the people here, and that may never change, but I will make sure that those I see as friends are never harmed, and for that, I'm stronger. Every life is something special in its own way. Someone important taught me that, and they left me with that lesson before they disappeared." All was silent for a moment afterwards, in which Naruto put on his shirt, uncaring as the blood made it sticky.

"I see. I think I understand. Your Uzumaki Naruto, correct?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"I'm in the same class as you."

"You are?"

"I sit right behind you."

"You do?"

The girl sighed at Naruto's apparent obliviousness to his surroundings. "Yes. My names Shirayuki Mizore."

Naruto smiled a bit at the, admittedly, cute girl. "Well, Mizore-san, it was nice meeting you."

"As it was you, Naruto-kun. And please, call me Mizore-chan. I'll remember what you said and see you in class tomarrow."

Naruto gave a nod as he watched the girl disappear. As he began the walk to the dorms, the Kyuubi felt the need to put in his two cents. _**'She's a nice girl. She also interreges me.'**_

'_Yeah, she is, isn't she. I think we could be friends.'_

'_**Maybe you could be more.'**_

Naruto was now at his door, the room number on his schedule. He had his key half way in the lock. _'What are you talking about?'_

'Come on. She's been dead for over a year now. I can feel it. You crave companionship and have been looking to fill the hole in your heart. You're only torturing yourself, you know?'

'_That may be,' _he thought, as he opened his door. He threw his jacket on a desk that also held his bag. He stripped off his shirt and placed his sword back in the seal, glad that he hadn't bumped into anybody. With a sigh he flopped onto a futon and closed his eyes.

It was only about one in the afternoon, but he would spend the night training, so he was going to get some sleep. _'But I refuse for her to be just a replacement for Haku-chan.'_

'Then make a new place for her in your heart.'

'I just met her. I doubt she barely sees me as a friend. Besides, I don't have those kinds of feelings for her.'

'Yet. You know that if you spend enough time with her, it will happen. Just give it time.'

'_Whatever.' _Naruto left it at that as he slowly drifted off to sleep. But, he couldn't stop thinking about the purple-haired girl.

/////

And that's the end of chapter two. Don't worry, more conflict will soon make it way into the story, seeing as I love a good conspiracy.

I suppose I'll have Naruto join a club next time, unless I think of something else. Feel free to participate in any way you wish. Well, see ya later. This chapter was 3,613 words, including these ones!


	3. Can't We Be Friends?

Hey folks. So, whilst I was checking out the last chapter after it was submitted, I noticed a surprising amount of errors in it. When I checked back to the original draft, I found that those mistakes weren't there, such as where I had a bold or italics, it wasn't on what was on the site. I suspect that it may have to do with me uploading the document and the way that I do it more specifically. Anyhow, here's another early chapter. I don't know why, but I've been feeling strangely inspired lately. Don't get used to it.

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Disclaimer: Acolyte was lounging about at home, when suddenly a knock sounded at his door. When he opened it, it revealed a postman. "Excuse me, but are you a Mr. Acolyte?" was what he asked. Acolyte nodded and the postman handed him a clipboard, most likely for the envelope under his arm. After doing so, he opened said package to reveal some documents. "You've been served." Was all he said as he disappeared.

"No, not again." Was all he could say, crestfallen at the revelation of the summons. He closed the door and was about to retreat to his couch when someone else knocked at the door. "What?!?" he asked, rather annoyed, swinging the door open. It was the postman again.

"Sorry, I forgot something." He was then handed another sheaf of papers. "You've been served… again." With that he sprinted across the lawn to his car. Acolyte just stared in distraught. What were the two summons for, exactly? Two counts of lacking a disclaimer, one for Naruto, and the other for Rosario+Vampire.

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Chapter 3: Can't We Be Friends?

Naruto woke up in silence, just staring at the blackened ceiling of his room. He slowly turned his head to the side and allowed himself a view of the clock on the wall. He could barely make out the hands of the old analog, reading eight at night.

He slowly rose from his futon and stretched, getting all of the kinks out of his muscles. He then looked down, wondering about what that sticky sensation around his abdomen was. That was when he remembered about his prayer earlier that day. _'Oh, right. I should probably get this shirt washed before class tomarrow.' _Of course, with the memory of the prayer also came the memory of that girl who found him, Mizore.

Naruto shook his head in an attempt to rid himself of the thoughts whilst changing into his street clothes, ones nearly identical to the ones he bought his first day in this new dimension. _**'See, it's happening already. You're falling for her.'**_ The voice caused a familiar burning sensation in his head, identifying Kyuubi as the speaker immediately.

'Pfft, okay. I'm just curious about her is all. Besides, if what I heard earlier today is right, she's a monster. It'll never work out.'

'**Stranger things have happened.'** Kyuubi left it at that as his voice receded. The halls were quiet as Naruto searched for a washing machine of some type. He found a few, but upon seeing that they required money to operate, he decided that he would be better off washing his clothes the old fashioned way in that lake he found earlier.

So, intent on doing just that, he set off to the spot he had claimed as his, shirt tucked under his arm. As he raced through the trees, he idly looked up to the sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of the majestic nighttime features, one of the things that hadn't changed from his crossing over; something that gave him peace. Unfortunately, the sky was rather overcast this night, and he suspected that the moon had just finished one of its cycles, meaning it wouldn't be full and bright for a few weeks.

The thought disappointed him slightly, marked by the slight downwards tilt at the end of his lips, the frown matching his almost distant eyes. 'Hey, Kyuubi, when can we start on training to control your chakra?'

'**Just give it a bit. Besides, there are other conditions in order to return you to your home.'**

'I know, but that's not what I want your power for at the moment. There are… bigger problems. Besides, not much for me there now.'

'**I see. Listen; just don't get too caught up in this revenge thing. First off, we don't even know who the guy is, or even where we can find him for that matter. Secondly, he just gives me a bad vibe, like I should know him, what he can do.'**

'I here you.' They decided to leave it at that. To Naruto, it didn't matter. He would kill the mysterious man one way or another. He couldn't die, he had time, he just wanted it to be him to kill the bastard, and for it to be sooner rather than later. Yes, when the time was right, the man who wounded him so would pay. But he had to wonder; what else would he have for the man to snatch away when the time did come, and could it be as bad as before?

/////

Naruto's thoughts didn't drift from this topic until he thought he sensed something. He had never been good at sensing and never saw need to (he was immortal, why try to prevent attacks against him?), but he could sense this quite clearly, and it was close. He rushed in the direction were the power was coming from, and was a bit shocked at what he came upon. 'What is that?!?'

'**That would be an orc, a relatively weak creature as far as monsters go. That doesn't mean you can afford to get cocky around him.'** as Naruto further scanned the area, he noticed Tsukune in a heap on the ground with that pink-haired girl by his side, both looking fearful. As he took another look at the monster, it finally clicked in his head.

'Wait, isn't that the guy from earlier?'

'**Yes, it is. He's probably back to continue what he started with the girl.'**

Naruto, upon realizing that, as they were, the two were helpless, was about to leap from his spot in the dead tree and blindside the orc, not wanting to have the girl rapped, as he assumed. Tsukune was also likely to die if the monster had his way, and Naruto couldn't let that go on good conscience. Sure, the kid was an annoyance, but he knew he meant well.

However, he was stopped when he heard a faint click. Looking back, he saw the girl with a shocked look on her face while Tsukune held the cross previously attached to her neck, something Naruto overlooked until now. The orc didn't hesitate in advancing further. That is, until power pretty much exploded from the girl.

Naruto was virtually nailed to the tree as the already dark sky seemed to blacken even more and winds whipped up around the field, throwing up dust. Naruto strained his eyes to try and see through the thick cloud, and as soon as it cleared, it revealed not a small and fearful girl with pink hair, but a confident and vicious looking woman with shining silver hair and deadly red eyes. Even the orc stopped in his tracks.

'W-w-what is that K-Kyuubi?' Naruto couldn't believe it; he was stuttering! In his own mind, no less! But, it wasn't from fear; it was the sheer pressure of the power the woman had. Tsukune was just looking on in shock, he noticed, unable to really comprehend what just happened.

'**Ahh, a vampire. Naruto, her kind is regarded as an S-ranked monster, notorious for their strength. Very few besides another vampire could go toe-to-toe with them and hope to come out on top. I suggest you sit back on this one.'**

The orc eventually shook himself from his stupor and laughed. He actually had the gall to mock one of the creatures that could effortlessly destroy him. With the declaration that he would still have his way with her, he charged. He was met with a kick to the face. Quite frankly, Naruto had trouble watching this it was just that sad. Yeah, the guy had it coming, hell, more than a simple kick, but he couldn't help but feel just a bit sorry for him.

When the guy reverted to a human form once more, Naruto left the scene, not wanting to be found. The situation was over anyway. Naruto spent the rest of the night training after he had cleaned his shirt. He would sure as hell need it if he even got on that girl's bad side, the thought of such sending a slight shiver down his spine.

/////

Morning seemed to creep up on Naruto, who was still in his spot. He was so focused on his training that it took Kyuubi to alert him of the time. **'Hey, don't you think you should be headed towards class?'**

'What do you mean?' it was then that the boy fully took notice of his surroundings. The sun had come fully over the horizon and he could here a faint hustle and bustle not to far away. 'Shit! I'm gonna' be late!' and with that, he took off like a rocket to fetch the rest of his uniform and perhaps take a quick shower.

It was rather surprising that Naruto stepped in the doorway just as the tone went off. He was grasping the frame, panting and out of breath. Hey, don't blame him; he had just sprinted about two miles with a very little break in about three minutes. He was regarded with indifference by his sensei. "Uzumaki, how nice of you to join us. Please take a seat and don't let this become a regular occurrence." With that, the man took roll and then turned to the board and began to write formulas onto it.

Naruto listened to the man and plopped down into his seat, followed by letting his head hit the wood of his desk silently. He was still slightly panting as he tried to slow his erratic heartbeat and relax. He regretted not training while he was in that civilian school, he really did.

He was almost surprised when he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Hey, you okay." He sat up straight and spun around, finding the purple-haired girl that plagued his head for most of the day yesterday staring at him, lollipop still in mouth. He had forgotten she sat behind him.

"I'm fine, just a bit tired."

"What was with you barreling through the doors earlier?"

Naruto abashedly rubbed the back of his neck as he let out a dry chuckle. "Well, I sorta lost track of time this morning and sprinted all the way here." Their conversation was cut off as Naruto heard his name called.

"Uzumaki-san!" Naruto quickly whipped back forwards to face the angry face of Yakasu, who was staring at him impatiently. A few of the other students chuckled under their breath as he felt a bunch of eyes on him.

"Yes sensei?" he asked standing up, matching the other man's gaze to a T.

"Ahh, now that your finally paying attention, would you mind telling the class the products of the equation on the board? Seeing as you can afford to drift off, you must know." Yakasu's voice was heavily laced with poorly hidden sarcasm at the last comment. The class went into another round of snickers.

Naruto just stared at the board with perplexity. He didn't have the faintest idea of how chemistry worked and he really had no interest of learning it. Unfortunately, it was a requirement. 'Hey, Kyuubi, a little help?'

'**I swear, you must be the stupidest piece of shit I've had the misfortune of knowing. And of course it's you I have to be sealed in. Jashin-sama, what did I do to displease you so?' **despite his despair, Kyuubi did give Naruto the answer, with he immediately relayed to everyone else.

"I believe you would be left with three Sodium Chloride, two Potassium Nitrate, and six Sulfur Bromide." (1) The class was prepared to revel in his humiliation once again, but was shocked when Yakasu said the last thing they expected.

"That's correct. Perhaps I underestimated you. You can take a seat." The class just stared at him in shock and awe before, one by one, they once again regarded Yakasu with disinterest as he began to explain why Naruto was correct.

In the end, he still felt two pairs of eyes on him. One was from Mizore, before she too tuned into what her sensei was saying. That left the pair that Naruto couldn't find, and to be honest, that disturbed him.

/////

As Yakasu left to attend his next class once the tone signaled, the class began to chat about meager things that bored Naruto. It was Mizore who once again struck up a conversation. "Wow, I didn't know you were so smart. When did you learn so much about chemistry?"

Naruto, being the modest individual that he was, tried to get attention away from the subject. "Eh, I just bullshitted my way through it. I know it's still early to judge, by I get the feeling that guy has a superiority complex. I was just trying to shut him up."

"Still, you must know at least something about chemistry to get an answer like that."

"I agree. It is highly unlikely that one could simply guess the answer to a problem of that difficulty without at least a basic prior knowledge of the subject." Both turned to see the newcomer who had interrupted the previously private conversation. Both were at least slightly shocked by what they saw.

It was a rather tall boy who stood a minimum of 6'4, but that wasn't what caught them off guard. For one, the left half of his body was stark white, while the right half was a pure contrast, being pitch black. His green hair matched the shade of his blazer and he stared down at them with pale yellow eyes. His mouth was set in a line as they surveyed him.

It was Mizore who bravely spoke the first words to the boy. "Your transformation is a little off, you know."

The boy gave a slight nod. "I am aware of that, and so is all of the staff at the school. I have a rare condition, you see, that makes me unable to cover my true skin tone, no matter how powerful the illusion." When he spoke, both caught a glimpse of pointy teeth that probably had no trouble rending flesh from bone.

Behind the new boy, Naruto could here a round of laughter break out. He tilted his head a bit to see several other students mocking the newcomer behind his back. The strange boy paid no heed to the hecklers, so neither did Naruto. Instead, he regarded the still unnamed boy in front of them. "So, what should we be calling you?"

The boy's eyes landed on the whiskered boy. "You may call me Zetsu. I take it you are Uzumaki Naruto and your friend is Shirayuki Mizore."

Naruto tensed a bit, but he didn't know why. 'Damnit! What's with me? I feel like this guy is familiar, but I know I've never met him. And how does he know our names?' Naruto decided to ask just that. "So, Zetsu, just how do you know our names?" he didn't know for sure, but Naruto suspected that inter-dimensional travel had messed with his head and made him just a bit paranoid. He had never remembered being this on edge before he came to this world. Then again, he was currently surrounded by monsters with most having little trouble tearing him limb from limb as he currently was.

"Well, I doubt there is anyone in this room who doesn't know who you are. As for Mizore-san, I remember her name from when Yakasu took roll this morning. Now, back to the topic at hand, how did you know the answer assuming what you said was true?"

"Yes, I am also curious." Naruto, seeing as he was backed into a proverbial corner, tried to think of some excuse. He was spared, however, for it was then that their next sensei walked into the class.

"Okay everyone, please take a seat so we can begin!" Zetsu walked back over to his seat at the back of the room as he ignored muffled laughter from those he passed by on his way there. As Naruto turned to the front of the room, he could feel that pair of eyes on him from earlier, but now he knew it was Zetsu.

/////

A few periods later found Naruto at the end of his morning classes. When the tone rang, Naruto made his way over to the cafeteria, holding his stomach from hunger pains. He had, after all, had his last meal yesterday morning, so this was a reasonable response.

When he did reach his destination, he grabbed a tray and stood in line, waiting to get a meal. Now, when Naruto first found out that this was a monster school, he had his doubts about the food. But as he was now, he couldn't care less what it was, as long as it would feed him. Naruto was actually surprised by what was put on his tray, for it actually looked edible to him. He then made his way to the tables outside, not wanting to waste a beautiful day in a place so confined.

As he walked to find a suitable place, he was stopped as he heard his name called out. "Naruto-san! Over here!" as he looked around to see who called to him, his eyes eventually landed on Tsukune and his pink-haired friend, who was waving him over. With much reluctance, he began to make his way over.

"Yes?" he stood by their table, waiting to see what they wanted. He was secretly eyeing the girl, though. He wasn't about to forget what he had witnessed last night.

Ironically, it was her who spoke. "Hello, we weren't properly introduced yesterday. I'm Akashiya Moka, and you already know Tsukune-kun. I just wanted to thank you for helping us out."

"Yeah, no problem. It was nice meeting you." He turned away and was about to leave, but her voice stopped him.

"Wait! We wanted to know if you wanted to eat lunch with us!" as he once again regarded them, he saw Tsukune was growing just a bit nervous, not wanting to annoy him, while Moka had a semi-hopeful look on her face.

"Sorry, not today. I have something to do shortly afterwards." He made his leave before the girl had a chance to protest. Sure, he knew it was uncalled for and impolite, but he really didn't think he would have anything in common with them. Besides, he wanted to think about some things.

He finally found an empty table and began to eat. He had to admit, it actually tasted good. He was surprised when he heard a voice. "Hello Naruto-kun." He jumped slightly at the quiet voice. He turned to see Mizore hiding in a bush behind him.

"Mizore, what are you doing in that bush? Come and take a seat." She seemed to think about it before she eventually took a seat across from him. She seemed a little nervous and Naruto acted on this. "Hey, you okay? You don't seem to be yourself."

"Sorry, it's just that I'm unused to social environments like this. But that's unimportant. I wanted to-." She was cut off as a small group approached the table.

"Hey, you two are friends of that two coloured freak, aren't ya?" called the apparent leader of the group, a rather unassuming boy. Hell, nothing about him or his lackeys was memorable, but Naruto vaguely recalled them being the ones laughing at Zetsu when he approached them. He also assumed that's who they were talking about now.

"Well, I wouldn't consider us friends, since we did just meet." Naruto's response was greeted by an eye twitch as the leaders fist slammed down on the table.

"Are you mocking me? Listen, we don't take kindly to hybrids or their friends around here, so you better watch yourselves. Consider this your only warning." And with the group left, leaving a confused Naruto watching their retreat.

"What was that about?" the blonde asked.

"That's what I wanted to talk about. I think Zetsu is a hybrid youkai and that we should be careful about associating with him, even if he is our friend." Mizore was looking at him with a bit of concern. This was obviously serious. Naruto may not have known what a hybrid was exactly, but he could always ask later.

"That may be true, but friendship is something you earn through more than a few simple actions. Besides, I don't think we have much to worry about."

Mizore gave a sigh. "I suppose you're right." Just then the tone signaled the end of lunch. The two got up and headed towards their next class.

/////

It was the end of the day and Naruto was making his way back to his dorm. As he walked, he thought back to what Mizore had said earlier, about how he should be careful around Zetsu. He then thought back to the small group that had tried to intimidate him. He had to laugh at that. He stopped that when he relized people were staring at him.

As he rounded a corner he ran into Mizore, who had a look in her eye that told him that something was happening. "Mizore, what is it?"

"It's Zetsu. Those guys are fighting him." Naruto looked at her, wondering why that was important. But, as he thought back, he relized that Zetsu had never done anything to him, he was just a bit creepy.

"Lead the way." He followed Mizore to see that the five from before were attacking the strange boy, while all he did was dodge, apparently not wanting to fight. There were no other people around, so no one would know if anything happened.

It was then that one of the kids got behind Zetsu. He was about to punch him in the back of the head, but was suddenly distracted. Then again, a flying kick to the face would do that to you. He fell to the ground and struggled to get up, spitting a glob of blood out as he did so.

His buddies looked over to the attacker to see a rather annoyed looking Naruto. The leader growled. "Hey! Didn't I warn you about associating with this freak?!?" he shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the bored looking Zetsu. Naruto turned to him and gave a shrug.

"Like I care what you think. Besides, what's he done to you?"

"Why you little shit! Let's teach this guy a lesson!" just as the other four were about to charge, a kunai made of ice landed right at their feet. Everyone, Naruto included, turned to find the source of the projectile.

Mizore stood there, ice claws on her hands and he hair now also looking as if it were glass as she looked at the four with a bored look on her face. Naruto was quite stunned when he saw the ice. It reminded him so much of Haku. He quickly shook his head to banish the thoughts.

"Heh, a yuki onna. Looks like we should take this seriously. Take your true forms, boys!" and with the leaders shout, everyone began to transform. When they finished they all looked like anthropomorphic lizards. They were pretty quick, Naruto would give them that.

He was surprised when the one he had previously floored gave a low kick and swept his feet out from under him. He then pounced on top of him and tried to claw him across the face, but Naruto kicked his chest while he was still in the air, sending him flying. He got up and looked around to see one fighting Zetsu, who was still only dodging, one fighting Mizore, another encased in a block of ice, and the one he had just dispatched.

He was about to look for the last one when he saw Mizore trip. As she fell the lizard man stalked over to her, chuckling as he tried to get up. He raised one of his claws up and hissed out a quick, "Die!" before he brought it down.

To Mizore, time seemed to slow as she watched the claw descend. She couldn't believe she was about to die. And to such a weak opponent, too. It was an embarrassment to all yuki onna. She closed her eyes and waited. When no pain came she peaked a blue orb open to see Naruto holding the claw away from her, a deadly cold expression on his face. The lizard man attempted to pry his hand from Naruto's death grip, but the pressure was just increased. The lizard started to hiss in pain.

"Let me tell you one thing. You had better listen, because this will be your only warning." As he talked in his cold tone, his rip grew stronger. The lizard was now wincing heavily. "Stay away from my friends or I will make you pay dearly." His sentence was emphasized by a sharp crack and a shrill yell from the lizard, signifying that Naruto had broken his wrist. If that wasn't enough, Naruto brought up his foot and kicked him in the jaw. There was another sharp crack, but there was no yell this time around.

Naruto turned to Mizore and offered a hand. Her ice claws dissolved and her hair returned too normal as Naruto helped her up. "Thanks." That was all she could say as he nodded his head.

"Don't mention it. You're my friend, and I would do anything to protect you." Mizore blushed a bit and turned her head away. As Naruto looked to see if Zetsu was in need of assistance, he saw him just standing there, a lizard man at his feet. As Naruto looked around, he could only count four lizard men. 'Wait, where's the last one?' he was answered when he soon found himself in a sleeper hold. Now, just because he was immortal didn't mean he didn't need oxygen. Sure, he would live, but he would also be unconscious for as long as it was deprived and then some.

Mizore once again formed her ice claws and was about to attack when the lizard man spoke. "Heh, not so fast. You take one step towards me and I snap this kid's neck." She stopped, unsure of what to do. If he could talk, Naruto would have told her to go for it, since he could live with something as trivial as a broken neck, but alas, he could not speak.

Darkness started to creep on the edge of his vision as he started to black out, just another few seconds. Just as it seemed he was about to be out of the fight, oxygen was mercifully restored to his lungs as he took big gulps of the gases needed to sustain consciousness and life for most creatures.

He turned to see why he could breath and saw Zetsu holding the lizard up above his head by the neck, a good foot off the ground. As the lizard man scratched at his neck, trying in some way to get air his arms suddenly went limp. Zetsu left him up there a few extra seconds for good measure before he threw the body into a tree.

As Naruto rubbed his neck he felt Mizore come over to his side, looking concerned. Zetsu began to speak. "Thank you for helping me, you two. Your assistance was greatly appreciated."

"Yeah, well I guess I couldn't just sit back and see a friend get hurt." Zetsu's eyes widened suddenly as he heard Naruto's statement. He turned his back to them as he spoke once more.

"Yes, well, never the less, thank you again. I am happy to call you a… friend as well. I will see you two tomarrow." And with that, he walked off, leaving Naruto and Mizore alone.

"Heh, nice guy, if not a little strange."

"Yeah. That's why I like you Naruto-kun. You seem to make friends so easily. Come on, I'll help get you home."

"Nah, I think I got it. Thanks for the offer though."

"Well, if you're sure." After a quick goodbye, Naruto and Mizore went their separate ways. Later that night, Naruto didn't notice a plant-like creature staring through his window, watching and protecting him from a distance.

'He surely is an interesting kid, is he not?' **'Quite. I think I'm actually starting to like him.' **'I wouldn't mind calling him a friend either. **'For once, I think I'll agree with you on that one.'**

/////

And there you have it, chapter three. So I got two reviews that stood out to me last chapter. One stated that it would like for me to better explain Naruto, and the other wanted longer chapters. I'm not sure how I did on either of those, but from now on my chapters will be a ten pages and 4,000 word minimum and this one was dedicated to some character development. I'm not sure if that's enough, but at least I tried. I know the whole thing with the lizards was cliché, but I couldn't think of anything else. Sorry.

(1). I do not have a fucking clue how the Japanese school system works and I am to lazy to check my source, but I seem to recall that in Japan, students stay in class while teachers move around for core classes. Sorry if it's wrong, but it's not going to change. Also, chemistry was never my favorite subject, and I barely remember what I learned there, so I have no idea if a reaction like that is possible, or if Sulfur Bromide is even a solution. Once again I am too lazy to check, sorry.

Next time I will have people join clubs, unless I get another request and an excuses to delay it. And sorry if this chapter doesn't come out next week, but I'm feeling my inspiration running out. It will come out before February is over though. I've also been meaning to include this for a while.

I want you to know that if I ever go a month and a half, that's forty-five days, without an update of any kind to any stories I may have, if I do decide to juggle some, unless I state otherwise, that I want you all to consider me dead and all of my stories up for adoption, but only if it meets the criteria previously stated. In the event that I do get a beta at some point, I will leave the decision of who gets what up to them. I will eventually post this to my profile and at the beginning of future stories for reference. But don't expect me to die anytime soon, people! Until next time, Acolyte out, currently alive and kicking! This chapter was 5,227 words long!


	4. Trouble On the Horizon

Salutations! So, I got a review that questioned why Naruto couldn't breath despite the fact that Hidan was perfectly fine after being decapitated. Well, I'm glad you asked! You see, in the immortals, normal bodily functions still take place such as repertory, and they will face ill effects if the system is damaged enough; they just can't die because of it. Basically, Hidan can breath because his lungs still have access to oxygen via the gapping hole where his head should be. Since Naruto was in a situation where his lungs where deprived of oxygen, repertory functions couldn't take place. In essence, imagine Hidan or Naruto being shot in the head with a 50-caliber bullet. They would be dazed and confused for a few minutes depending on where it hit the brain, but would remain alive. Or, if they lose enough blood, they pass out. Hell, when decapitated muscular functions can't take place, but others can I know this explanation is confusing, so bare with me and let's continue with the story.

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Disclaimer: "Has the jury reached a verdict?" asked the judge who sat high in his stand. A slightly overweight man stood up at the end of the jurors' booth.

"We have, your honor. We of the jury find the defendant, Mr. Acolyte, guilty of all charges."

"Ahh, fuck you, Mike." This came from the gloomy Acolyte who sat hunched over at the defendant's desk. The bang of the gavel sounded throughout the courtroom as the judge spoke once again.

"I would remind you, Mr. Acolyte, to watch your mouth in my court. Now, I sentence you to six months in Otter Creek Correctional Facility."

"WHAAAT?!?" shouted Acolyte as he stood up and grew even paler than he already was. He began to sweat and didn't even notice as two guards came up behind him and dragged his limp body out of the room, loading him into a truck. Yes, it seemed that the consequences of lacking a disclaimer were severe, indeed. Acolyte owns nothing, not even his new cell, but he does own original concepts that grant him no monetary gain.

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Chapter 4: Trouble on the Horizon

"Class, settle down! I have several announcements to make!" this shout came from Yakasu who stood in front of his desk, hands folded behind his back and face set in its usual neutral state, his demeanor all but screaming to the world, 'I-really-don't-care-about-what-I'm-going-to-tell-you-because-I'm-to-good-for-that-but-I-need-to-come-off-as-if-I-do-just-a-bit-to-ensure-that-the-faculty-doesn't-bitch-me-out-even-though-I-don't-even-care-for-that'. Yes, it would appear as if Naruto's assumptions about Yakasu's ego were correct.

Speaking of which, he was in homeroom conversing with both Mizore and Zetsu, the latter of which had opened up a bit more after the events yesterday and allowed a ghost of a smile to grace his bi-coloured face every now and again. However, what shocked the other two was the fact that Mizore had decided to cut her hair shorter, giving it a sharper look. When Naruto, who thought she looked as lovely as ever (though wasn't about to admit it), questioned her about her change in hair style, she just responded that she felt like a new person ever since she met them, and thus thought it would better reflect how she felt.

The three were mostly talking about the events of days previous and little else, all still a bit on edge seeing as they just met and didn't know much about how the others really were. Except Zetsu. He knew most everything about the others, he just didn't care about the awkwardness that much.

Other groups were like this as well. The class was a buzz with sounds of constant chatter. It seemed that the whole class just didn't give a shit about their sensei's plight to get their attention. It was then that the science teacher relized this and, with an eye twitch, grew pissed.

Throwing caution and personal safety to the wind, he slammed a fist down onto the hard mahogany desk with more force that it seemed he should have possessed. A resounding crack rang through the room. Everyone jumped and turned to the source of the sound and silence prevailed. Yakasu, calm face still in place, lifted his bleeding hand from the splintered desk, a slightly satisfied look in his eyes, though most wouldn't mention it to him.

"Lovely. Seeing as now that I have your attention, allow me to tell you the news. As you probably have failed to notice, five of your classmates are currently out. That is because two of them are dead and the other three are hospitalized. The cause of them being so is unknown." He took in a breath here and let the class murmur about deaths this early in the year. Yakasu himself stared pointedly at Naruto and his group, his gaze telling them he knew. He soon hushed the class once again. "Regardless, as soon as they heal, the other three will be handed over to the Public Safety Committee. I hope this will teach the rest of you a lesson that violence won't be tolerated."

There was a moment of silence as the students pondered this. Naruto used this time to think. How had this happened? He knew he didn't kill any of the lizard men, and the one Mizore froze was still breathing once he had thawed out, so that left the ones Zetsu took care of. The man didn't seem to want to fight in the first place, so he doubted it was intentional. Maybe they had died of their injuries? As much as Naruto tried to make himself believe this, he knew that he couldn't. He snapped back to attention when Yakasu spoke again.

"That brings me to my second announcement. As you know, the basis of this school is to integrate you into human society. As such, you will be required to join a club in order to be stimulated socially and experience average human life. Club sign-ups are later this afternoon, so be thinking about what club you want to join."

At the mention of clubs, the class once again burst out into excited conversation. Instead of intervening as usual, Yakasu took this time to slip out of the room and go to the infirmary. His hand was still bleeding, after all, and quite frankly, he didn't feel like intimidating a bunch of screaming brats at the moment.

/////

"So, what type of club are you thinking about joining?" asked Mizore after class. The day had proceeded as normal after Yakasu had gotten his hand wrapped up, much to the disappointment of the students.

Naruto gave a shrug as he put his hands in his pockets and continued on his walk to lunch. "I'm not sure. Probably one that lets me stretch my muscles and stuff. What about you two?" he attempted to avert attention away from himself, something he has been doing ever since he arrived here. He felt the less people knew about him and his past, the better. That included his friends, unfortunately.

Zetsu was the first to respond. "I will most likely end up joining the gardening club I heard about." Both Naruto and Mizore turned to stare at him. "What? I like plants, okay?" was the slightly indignant response he gave as the two shrugged it off. Zetsu was defiantly good at putting up the image of a gentle giant. "And what of you, Shirayuki-san?"

Mizore finally spoke what she was thinking. "I was thinking that maybe the three of us could join a club together." Naruto quickly jumped in on this.

"This is a chance for us to get out there and meet new people, you know, make new friends. I like you both, really, but you guys need to get out there! Besides, I doubt the three of us have much in common in the way of hobbies!" the blonde's rushed explanation didn't escape either of his friends.

"Do you think you could elaborate a bit more, Uzumaki-san?" asked Zetsu. Mizore shook her head in agreement, both eyeing him curiously. The Jashinist was starting to sweat.

"It's just that… well, it's obvious that we have different talents. Zetsu has already said he likes plants, and I already said I want an athletic club. Mizore, you remember the way you dropped in on me during lunch yesterday? You're great at hiding! Hell, you'd make a great investigative journalist! Maybe you should find a club like that." As Naruto finished, he prayed to Jashin that his friends would buy his excuse. He hoped they wouldn't question him further. He didn't want them to know the truth just yet.

Kyuubi knew the truth. _**'They'll find out about your past eventually and you know it.'**_

'_I know, and I'll tell them when the time comes. It's just that…'_ Naruto didn't need to finish; they'd gone over this before.

'_**You don't want to put yourself through the pain of loss again, but more importantly, you don't want harm to come to them.' **_Naruto was silent and Kyuubi knew he was right. _**'You're immortal; loss is inevitable for you. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The only thing you can do is have fun, be loved, or it will haunt you for eternity. You live for them, your friends, your lovers, your family, and the only way you can ensure their happiness is to protect them, grow strong.' **_Naruto was still silent after this. Kyuubi could sense what was going on. _**'Just remember what I said. Haku was a mistake, okay? You're human. You're bound to make many mistakes, just don't let one of them be thinking you're righteous because you denied yourself happiness to protect those you love.'**_

Naruto was relieved at that moment, both because Kyuubi had left and because his friends had bought his excuse. He let a silent sigh escape just as Mizore said he was right, though she sounded a bit down. "That's great. You know what, I'm not feeling hungry at the moment. I'll catch you guys later in class." And with that, Naruto trotted down the hall away from his friends. He had some thinking to do.

Mizore just then turned to Zetsu. "What's wrong with him?" for a moment, Zetsu was silent. He had a pretty good idea of what was going on, he had seen Naruto's final moments in his home world. He was trying to protect them.

"I don't know," he finally answered. "But we're his friends. I suspect he will eventually tell us; it just might be hard for him. I can see the way he looks at you; he truly does care, you know. I think we should just leave him be." Mizore was silent for a second, wondering if what her tall friend had said was true. She finally gave a sad nod as they continued on down the hall.

'I hope you're right, Zetsu. He was my first friend here, and I don't want anything bad to happen to him. Please, Naruto, open up to us. Open up to me.'

/////

A few hours later found Naruto in gym class. True to his earlier guess, the red-haired man that stopped his fight on the first day was, in fact, a gym teacher. His, more specifically. "Pick up the pace, damnit! C'mon! Move it! Move it! Move it!" yes, he was also quite cruel, having the whole class do laps around the schoolyard the first day.

Naruto, with his previous training, really didn't have much trouble with fulfilling the demented teachers regime, and thought that all the other students, who he thought were supposed to be a race of superior monsters, were a bunch of pussies. At least five had already collapsed from exhaustion and several more were on their last leg, praying to whatever false god they worshiped that this would end soon. The rest were slightly behind Naruto, doing a rather good job of holding their own.

At last, it seemed, the red-haired demon had had his fill of seeing the students suffer and blew on his shiny metallic whistle, sending a shrill noise through the air. Everyone took the signal to stop, many hunching over to put their hands on their knees or just flat out collapsing, taking in gulps of air and trying to get their hearts back into a normal rhythm. Naruto just wiped the sweat from his brow and mentally scoffed at most of the pathetic (in his mind) students.

'_Are you sure these are the fearsome monsters I need to be cautious around at all times?'_ Naruto sarcastically asked the demon residing inside of him.

'_**Okay, perhaps monsters aren't as powerful as I remember them to be in their human forms, but rest assured, if you attempt to face one of the higher ranking in their true form, you will most likely lose without help. You remember that vampire girl, do you not?' **_a slight shiver went down the blonde's spine at the recollection of all the power the girl had unleashed.

'Unfortunately.'

'**Well, even in human form, she is naught but a weak and sentimental schoolgirl. It just goes to show you can't always judge someone by what you see them do the first time around. Now go, the teacher is talking.'**

Sure enough, the gym teacher was once again yelling at everybody. "Alright, hit the showers you pathetic meat sacs! Go wash the blood and shame away before the tone rings!" as the students went through the doors behind the teacher they seemed to relax as they escaped his gaze. Naruto was the last one to make his way through, but just as he was about to enter the cool gym, a hand landed on his shoulder. He looked up from the offending appendage to see it attached to the teacher. When he spoke, his voice seemed to soften a bit. "Nice hustle out there, Uzumaki. You're one of the better students I've had the pleasure of teaching."

"Thanks Kotsubo-sensei."

"You know, club sign-ups are later today. You'd be good for the baseball team. I supervise it, I would know."

"Thanks for the offer. I'll look into it." Naruto shrugged the hand off and was about to once again make his way through the doors. Kotsubo's voice stopped him yet again.

"You seemed depressed. Anything you want to talk about?" Naruto didn't even turn to face him. His hand was on the door, ready to push it open so he could shower and change. The question stunned him, though. Was he really that readable?

Finally, he found his voice. "It's… complicated."

"I understand. Listen, if you need anything, come find me. I don't want a great athlete to have their mind on other things during something important. And maybe you could talk it out with some friends or something. They'll be there when others can't. Now get going, you only have a few minutes left." Naruto gig leave. He took a quick shower and changed back into his school uniform.

As he walked through the halls, waiting for the tone, he couldn't stop thinking about what the gym teacher said._** 'See, even he has common sense. You seem to be the only one lacking it seeing as you're ignoring the answer that's right in front of you. You'll need to tell them eventually if you value them. Better sooner than later.'**_

'The time will come; it's just not now. Please, just let me make this decision on my own.' Kyuubi heeded his request and all was silent.

/////

Naruto traversed the assorted rows of booths set up to attract potential students into joining various clubs and activities. Even though it was his idea to join different clubs from his friends, he was rather alone. Then again, it's not like he wanted to separate from his friends, it was more in case of an unforeseen problem with a foreseeable consequence. I.e., the man in the cloak showing up and killing everyone.

The blonde clenched his fists and grinded his teeth at the thoughts, shutting his eyes as slight tremors of rage and remorse shook through his body. He didn't know it, but he was unconsciously releasing a respectable amount of youkai (1). His canines started to elongate and his nails grew, piercing the delicate flesh of his palms and letting the blood flow freely.

He didn't notice any of this, however, so intent on ridding himself of the negative emotions, or the fact that people were giving him a wide birth as he passed them, staring at him with shock and a bit of fear. It took the intervention of a certain Bijuu for him to stop focusing so much. **'Naruto! Snap out of it!'**

"What?!?" he unintentionally let out, not expecting the sudden voice or burning sensation in his skull, as he reverted to his normal appearance and dropped the youkai he was generating. He took a look at his surroundings to see many students staring at him with confused looks on their faces, sweat on some brows. Realizing that he was somehow the cause, he quickly moved along through the stands, escaping the public eye.

'**What the fuck were you thinking! Generating even that much of my youkai without training! You truly are an irresponsible dumbass, you know that?!?' **as soon as Naruto stopped at a booth, Kyuubi went off on him for what he unintentionally did. Naruto growled slightly, sort of freaking out the person at the soccer club's booth. Seeing as he may be about to cause another scene, Naruto moved on.

'Look, I didn't even know I was generating youkai! You never taught me how to do it! So don't be going off on me for something I didn't even intentionally do!' Naruto moved through the throngs of people, the frown on his face putting off potential future members of clubs he may join. Kyuubi heaved a great sigh as he spoke once again.

'**I suppose you're right and I'm sorry. I'll start training you right away so we can avoid this in the future. But, that aside, you need to get that guy, along with the past, out of your head. It's obviously not helping you with the situation at present, even if it is the whole basis for your argument.'**

'I know, it's just…' Naruto stopped, not wanting to continue.

'**You're scared, I know, even if you don't want to admit it. Now, let me put this in a way you may better understand it. It's something I learned personally in my millennia of existence.' **The Bijuu took a dramatic pause, and then all but roared out his next sentence, causing Naruto to hold his head in pain. To him, it felt like his frontal lobe was being submerged in molten lead, and he received more than a few looks. **'SHIT HAPPENS! Then sooner you learn that you can't control your life to an unlimited extent, the better. I know this may be hard for you, but it's the truth. I just want you to be prepared for the worst,' **Kyuubi finished in a much softer tone.

'Damn, sometimes I'm confused as to if your trying to teach me to let more people into my life, or get ready to let them go.' Naruto idly rubbed his head as he inspected the judo club's booth. He eventually moved on from that to. Right now, he was trying to weigh all his options before he made a decision. So far, baseball actually wasn't such a bad idea.

Kyuubi gave a slight chuckle. **'Here's another thing for you to learn; you still have many things to learn.' **Despite himself, Naruto couldn't keep the small grin off his face. It quickly vanished as he heard a voice call his name.

"Naruto-san!" the aforementioned blonde turned to see none other than a pink-haired vampire dragging a brown-haired human behind her racing towards him. In his head, he groaned.

'Fuck, just when things were starting to look up.' As they reached him, he nodded curtly to them both. "Akashiya-san. Aono-san."

The two were panting as they stood in front of him. Moka let out a light laugh, confusing him slightly. "You don't have to be so formal with us, Naruto-san. We're friends, after all."

Naruto just gave them a blank look, wondering if he heard the bubbly girl correctly. "We are?" he just got another laugh in response. Tsukune was also chuckling a bit, though he was also rubbing the back of his neck in an awkward way. His face also held a look that said, 'Sorry-about-this'.

Just then, the brunette was pressed into the rather sizable chest of a short, blue-haired girl dressed in a yellow sweater. She was also very loud, Naruto noticed. "Yahoo! C'mon Tsukune-kun, let's go look at more clubs." The boy apparently tried to say something, waving his arms about, but it was muffled.

"Kurumu-san! Let him go! You're suffocating him!" shouted a rather concerned Moka. The girl, Kurumu, smirked at her.

"Oh, are you jealous that that your puny breasts are no match for mine? That you can't please Tsukune-san the same way I can?" all of a sudden, a bed pan appeared out of nowhere and landed on her head, sending her to the ground.

"Let go of him you cow! Desu!" a little girl, no older than eleven, appeared, dressed in a brown dress and pointy brown hat. She was waving around a pink wand. Just as Kurumu was getting up, another bedpan crashed into her skull.

"Umm, I think that's enough, Yukari-chan." Tsukune was apparently back to normal. It was when the eleven-year-old grabbed Moka's chest and started talking about sex with the two of them and Tsukune that Naruto had enough. He approached the boy and put a hand on his shoulder, just as Kurumu was getting up and began fighting with the other two girls, causing the human to jump a bit.

"Tsukune, I think we need to… talk." Naruto had an unreadable look on his face, freaking Tsukune out more than he already was. He was just a bit edgy around Naruto, seeing as he knew virtually nothing about the blonde besides his name and religion. He reluctantly shook his head and allowed himself to be led off to a more private location. "Tsukune," Naruto started off very seriously. His eyes seemed to bore into Tsukune's very being, causing him to sweat. "Are you running a sex ring?" Tsukune fell flat on the ground at the absurdity of the question and due to the sheer seriousness of which the question was asked. Though, when he thought about it later, he relized that unfortunately it wasn't that unreasonable of an assumption. Naruto continued, unperturbed. "Seriously though, what are they to you?"

"Well… as sad as it may be, they're my friends." Naruto turned around so he wasn't facing him as he got off the ground. It was silent before Naruto asked his next question.

"Do they know you're human?" Tsukune tensed, ready to flea if necessary, before Naruto calmed him. "Relax, I haven't snitched on you yet. I have no need to."

Tsukune gulped as he answered. "Yes, they do. But it wasn't of my choice. They sort of… found out. Moka's the only one I told."

Naruto seemed to nod. "Thank you, Tsukune." Just as the boy was about to ask another question, a round of female voices shouted his name. He turned his head for a second to see his friends coming, and, when he looked back, Naruto was gone.

'Just what are you, Naruto?' he thought before he was once again whisked away into the giant marshmallows that are Kurumu's breasts. Naruto, meanwhile, went back to perusing the booths. He let out a sigh, realizing that there was nothing else here of interest to him. He began to double back, intent on finding Mizore and joining whatever she was. Sure, baseball was fine and all, he just didn't see the point, and all the other athletics clubs seemed so… pussy-ish.

As he was walking between two booths in an attempt to find a shortcut, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. It was a small stand, and poorly put together, but he could care less about that. What did catch his attention was the small banner on the front of it.

/////

"Welcome to fight club. There are three rules you must know and abide to if you want any future in this club," began the tall blonde-haired man at the center of the room. It was the first day of club activities and Naruto along with a dozen others were in a dimly lit warehouse. "The first rule; don't talk about fight club. The second rule; you don't talk about fight club."

Naruto mentally scoffed as it became apparent that this was a less than legitimate club. Not that he cared. But still, they had already found this place, hell; they set up a booth, almost like they wanted to be found. It would have been safer if this thing were invite only.

"Finally, despite the fact that we have less restrictions than the other clubs, you may not revert to your monster form, kill your opponent, and you must obey when someone calls a fight. We will not protect you if you get caught and shit hits the fan. Now then, today will mostly be introducing ourselves." Yes, it seemed Naruto might have found the perfect club.

/////

Yakasu was walking down the abandoned road to his little cottage on the school grounds, brief case in hand. It was unfortunate for him that he didn't notice he was being tailed. He barely felt the syringe be injected into his neck and by the time he grabbed it, the plunger had been fully emptied into him. The reaction was instant.

His pupils contracted fully, leaving behind only his irises. Trembling, he fell to the ground, hacking up blood. His arms soon gave way and he lay there, motionless. "Hmm, apparently that wasn't the right formula. Damn. But wait, what's this?" asked a voice as Yakasu started to twitch before he gasped and shot up. He didn't say anything as he looked at the man that had technically killed him with no emotion or recognition on his face. You could tell the man was grinning. "You may still be of use to me."

/////

And I'll end it there. What exactly happened to Yakasu will be revealed next chapter. Yes, I know it took more time for Tsukune to meet everyone, but fuck it. Yes, Naruto is in fight club, but it's mostly a plot device for future events. Well, I believe that's it, so see ya. This chapter was 4,453 words long.


	5. Can It Get Any Worse Than This?

Hey everyone. Just to give you all fair warning, I don't quite know where this chapter is going yet, just how it will start and end. That being said, I'm rather good at bullshitting my way through most of my schoolwork, and I have high honors, so hopefully that will be true for this. If not, this chapter may not be as long. Oh well.

/////

Disclaimer: Acolyte was sitting in his cell at Otter Creek Correctional Facility, and was not enjoying one second of it. Time moved by slowly in his concrete cubical, his bed was lumpy, there was barely any sunlight, and he had no one to bitch to. The now scruffy man put his face in his hands so as people who weren't there couldn't see his down cast face.

Also, the food sucked. This came to mind as a tray was roughly slid into his cell. He reluctantly began to eat as he pondered how to escape, tapping a metal spoon against his chin. He suddenly grinned as he eyed the eating utensil. It was then announced that it was time for lights out, as his world grew dark.

Later that night, the guards found a rough hole in the wall, the words 'I don't own any manga or anime franchise' written above it crudely.

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Chapter 5: Can It Get Any Worse Than This?

A few weeks had passed and Naruto had finally adjusted comfortably to life at Youkai Academy. Yes, he had grown quite accustomed to the eccentric teachers, the strange practices, even most of the seemingly pathetic monsters surrounding him. Yep, it seemed life was going good.

However, something he had yet to grow used to was his new friends. He could count the number he had back home on one hand, and he could do that here, too, but they were just so different. Sure, he liked Mizore and Zetsu's company, hell, he even enjoyed the occasional greeting from Tsukune, until his bitches dropped in and started fighting over him, but he just couldn't connect with them.

Then again, how could he? He was from another world, full of different rituals and such. He couldn't just tell them that. What would they think? Yes, even though he was technically in a fake friendship with the both of them, he didn't want to be anything less with them, especially Mizore.

His face heated up slightly at the thought of the purple-haired yuki onna. She was beautiful, graceful, a bit sneaky, and just a little shy. She reminded him so much of Haku, yet, she was her own person. Regardless, whether she knew it or not, Naruto would lay down his immortal life for the girl. He would make sure no harm befell her, Jashin help him.

Where was this going again? Oh, right. Despite the fact that his friends didn't know him, he would continue to make sure it stayed that way to make sure nothing happened to them, going so far as to slightly avoid them, even though he gained nothing, and it hurt them a bit. Yes, even though Kyuubi and two others had said otherwise, and that their was still no evidence of the mysterious man's presence here, he would continue this act as long as possible. Sometimes, Naruto was just too stubborn.

The young Jashinist was broken from his musings as he was greeted by one of his friends. "Hello Naruto-kun. How are you doing today?" the blonde looked up to see the face of Mizore and smiled slightly.

"Hey Mizore-chan. I'm fine. How about you?"

The girl gave a slight shrug. "About the same."

"That's good to here." It was silent for a moment. The halls were empty, seeing as the tone had already sounded, and the only thing left was club activities, which weren't for another half-hour.

Waiting for a few moments until the stragglers dispersed, Mizore finally spoke what was on her mind. "Naruto-kun, for the past few days, me and Zetsu-san have noticed that you've been seeming to avoid us. Ever since club sign-ups we've been getting the impression of that, actually."

Naruto's eyes widened for a moment, before he quickly furrowed his brows in a confused manner. "Really? I'm sorry that I made you thin-…" he was cut off when the purple-haired girl held up her hand, asking for silence.

"Come off it, Naruto-kun. I know you're hiding something." Mizore's eyes seemed to soften as she continued. "Please, just know that I'm here if you ever need to talk about something." With that, she began to walk away.

Naruto watched her retreating back, stuck in inner turmoil. On one hand, this was the perfect opportunity to come clean. On the other, was he really ready to come clean? "Wait!" Mizore stopped and turned to see Naruto starting to walk towards her.

"Yes?" she asked, turning to face him completely.

"Mizore-chan, there probably is some thing you should know." Naruto paused, trying to find the right words to use. He eventually decided to just wing it. "You see, the thing is-…" he was cut off once again.

"Ahh, Naruto-san, I was hoping to run into you." Out of nowhere appeared Yakasu, looking as if he were ready to retreat to his residence.

"Yes, Sensei, what do you want?" asked Naruto, looking intently at the man.

"Well, Naruto-san, I'm a bit concerned. You see, your last test grade didn't hold up quite so well as your previous. In fact, compared to most of the class, it was downright abysmal. I want you to meet me in home room after club activities." Just as Naruto was about to protest, Yakasu continued by saying, "It's non-negotiable. I'll be seeing you later." Yakasu began walking away, a slight smirk on his face.

Naruto just watched the man walk away in quite rage. How was this possible? Since the beginning, Kyuubi had been feeding him answers to any questions he received in chemistry and certain other subjects. He trusted the Bijuu in these matters, so it just didn't make sense. In his anger, he stomped away, Mizore watching him all the while, deciding it was best not to get in his way.

/////

'_Kyuubi, how is this possible? Are you just losing your edge or something?' _Naruto later asked the kitsune, approaching his classroom in dread. His club captain sensed Naruto's discomfort and told him that he would not be fighting today, only serving to piss the blonde off more.

Kyuubi gave an indignant snort in response. _**'You're kidding, right? Me, losing my edge, especially in matters of intellect. It's almost a laughable thought.'**_

'_Yet here you are, sealed inside of me. Yes, you truly are great.'_ Naruto's sarcastic remark took the Bijuu off of his superiority high.

'_**Well, seeing as that may be, that doesn't change the fact that those answers I gave you were correct. I sense something may be off with that sensei of yours, though. Be cautious, for I have no doubt that, if worse comes to worse, he will have little trouble with tearing your head off.' **_With Kyuubi's warning in mind, Naruto proceeded through the door.

"Ahh, right on schedule, Uzumaki-san. I never would have pined you for the punctual type." The response came from Yakasu, who sat at his desk grading papers. He hadn't even looked up to greet the blonde, focused on his work he was, nursing the seemingly fresh cup of coffee grasped in his left hand. "Just take a seat and I'll be with you in a minute.

Begrudgingly, Naruto did so. That comment on punctuality, he thought, would have been appropriate about two years ago. However, ever since he had been so slow getting to Haku… he didn't want to think about it. That was then, this was now. He was going to tell Mizore all about it today and move on, because nothing bad was going to happen, but Yakasu had to interrupt him. If anyone had bad timing, it was the damnable man in front of him.

For the next several minutes, the sensei found himself subjugated to any icy glare from Naruto, not that he paid it any heed. He just read over papers, marked how well they were with a red sharpie, and took an occasional sip from his mug. It seemed he eventually finished when he stood up from his desk, the crack that was previously in it now repaired (because really, it was just an annoyance, always leaving an indent on a paper from where a pen crossed over the jagged and uneven spot), and walked over to the seat the bewhiskered teen sat at.

"So, do you understand why you're here, Uzumaki-san?"

"Yeah, you said it had to do with my test grades being terrible compared to everyone else's or something." The way Naruto spoke, you could tell he held contempt for the man before him. Said individual shrugged it off.

"No, that's the excuse I made for your presence in this room. Do you know _why _you're _here_?" he asked. "Your grades are some of the best in this school. They, in truth, have little significance to me." he ignored the widening of Naruto's eyes at the revelation that he had been tricked to coming here.

In Naruto's defense, sure, he should have suspected, hell, he was warned, but would it have really made a difference? As Naruto attempted to answer the question, he began looking for a viable escape in an, he hoped, inconspicuous manner. "Umm, because you wanted me here? Maybe you're lonely and need some company? The room's too big and you need something to fill it. Oh! I know! You're just out of your fucking mind, right? Paperwork finally got to you. Or maybe…" he was cut off by a sigh from Yakasu.

"No, Naruto. None of those answers are even remotely close to being correct." He began to massage his temples. "I don't mean here, in this room. Okay, maybe that is an important factor in the overall equation, but, the point is, do you have any semblance of an idea of why you're in this school, in this part of the world, Hell, this world in general?" Yakasu paused in his speech and stepped over to the window to peer out at the sky above. The sun had just barely set and there were still vestiges of dark pinks and violets on the horizon.

Naruto sat at his desk in silent shook, staring at the man who seemed to know so much. His body and mind had long ago reached an agreement, yelling at him to escape while he could. But, a part of him blocked that out, forcing him to ask the question. "You said this world. Do you mean…" he left the question hanging, not wanting to give too much away if it turned out he was wrong.

The man was silent for a few moments, basking in the vista's beauty. He finally provided an answer. "I know you don't belong here." Yakasu heard the annoying scrapping of the chair against the linoleum floor followed by hurried footsteps. He allowed himself to smirk a bit before continuing to himself, in a slightly amused tone of voice, "They always run."

As Naruto dashed down the halls he desperately looked for anyone that could help him. He had to leave. If not, he would be forced to kill Yakasu, and he could only imagine the complications that would bring. Of course, being as late as it was, most staff and students were probably at their respectful residences. Hell, he couldn't even spot any custodians.

He quickly turned a corner, only to run straight into the person he was attempting to avoid. He fell on his ass and looked up to the teacher who just stood there, hands shoved into his coat pockets. "It's dangerous to run in the halls, Uzumaki-san. You should exercise caution in a place like this. You don't know what could happen." Yakasu approached Naruto, who was still on the ground, like a tiger who had cornered its prey.

Naruto attempted to scurry away, but his back hit the wall. He finally regained his senses and started to run. He didn't get more than three meters before his arm was grabbed and he was yanked back. He quickly turned and sent a punch into the unsuspecting teachers face. He didn't even budge as it landed on his chin.

Naruto gasped as he felt several bones in his hand break and clutched it close to his chest. It was healed quickly enough. "Well now, that was uncalled for, if not pathetic. Learn to fight before you try to punch somebody again." With that, Yakasu threw the blonde over his shoulder, only to turn and deliver a spin kick to the still airborne boy's back. He slammed into the window, which promptly shattered, sending Naruto flying down several stories.

Naruto impacted the ground as glass fell around him and quickly took inventory. He had at least five broken ribs, his arm had been torn out of its socket, and his back was killing him. He also had multiple scratches on his face and arms, but those were mostly superficial. "Fuck," was all he could say after al his injuries had healed and he sat up.

"Still up, eh?" Naruto almost gave himself whiplash he turned around so fast. Yakasu was right behind him, looking as bored as ever. He lifted the boy up by his neck and flexed his left hand, readying it to strike. Naruto seemed to be grasping at his neck. The teacher took some sort of sick delight in this. "Any last words?" he asked mockingly.

He was suddenly blinded by a burst of smoke. The next thing he knew, he was grasping at his empty left eye socket and screaming. Naruto landed on his feet as he was dropped, his front bloodied as well as his, now unsealed, wakizashi. "Fucking bastard. Don't think you've won yet," Naruto said in a growl. What was it with people making it so he couldn't breath? It pissed him off.

He was shocked when Yakasu's body started to morph and warp. He hunched over and began to grow, his arms lengthen, his face distort. Before him now stood a seven-foot tall beast, its arms reaching its shins, slightly bent over. Its chest exploded in muscle, tearing of the upper portion of its cloths. Its fingers were long and spindly, more like claws than anything. Its jaw jutted out, filled with rows of jagged teeth, dripping spit that scotched the ground. Its remaining light blue eye had become silted, surrounded by a red background, and its ears now stood on top of its head, perked up. Its entirety was covered in a brown-grey fur. It unleashed a throaty laugh as it stretched. **"Don't be full of yourself, Uzumaki-san. I'll repay you for that."**

'_Kyuubi, what is that?!?' _asked Naruto in shock of the creature Yakasu had become.

'I don't know. I'll tell you this, though; he's not natural. Something caused him to become like this, so use extreme caution.'

The beast charged Naruto on all fours with speed unbefitting of its size, smashing its shoulder into Naruto with all the force of a speeding semi. You could hear the creaking of bones as Naruto flew, dropping his wakizashi. He slammed into a tree as the beast stalked closer. **"Is that all you've got? How disappointing." **It raised one of its razor claws to strike, only to stumble forward in pain.

Naruto smirked as he pulled on the, previously unseen, rope wrapped around his chest, dislodging his sword from the beast's back. It fell forward, bleeding profusely. "Any last words?" he mocked as he stood on its chest, blade poised to stab its neck.

"**He did say not to count you out. I should have listened. Good thing he had a backup plan." **With that, the beast swatted Naruto off of its chest and staggered away into the dead forest at an amicable pace, seeing it had a gapping wound in its back with some vital organs probably injured.

"Fuck, where'd he go?" asked Naruto, looking around.

'_**Hey, Naruto,' **_spoke Kyuubi suddenly. Naruto responded, a bit irate.

'_What?'_

'_**I just relized that the only other person who knew you're not from here is that man who killed Haku.'**_ Naruto's eyes widened at this.

'_You don't think that was him, do you?'_

'No, not the same power, but they're related somehow. But the important thing to know is that he went in the direction of the dorms, and he said he had a backup plan. But that all together and…' Naruto put it together himself.

"Shit!" with that, he ran as fast as he could through the dead trees, praying beyond hope that he could stop what he thought was going on from happening.

/////

A knock at the door prodded Mizore to retreat from her spot at the small table to the entrance of her dorm. 'Who could that be?' she wondered curiously as she opened the door. She was unprepared for the sight that greeted her.

She wasn't so shocked, however, to be hit by the claw swipe that would have taken her head clean off. She dodged back further into the room and summoned her ice claws, preparing to fight back. "Who are you?" she asked around her lollipop. She dodged once more and made a quick slash down the beast's arm. She was put off when she noticed that it didn't particularly affect the fiend.

It gave a low, rumbling chuckle as it stalked closer to the girl. "Now that's the least of your worries. When I'm done with you, you won't be more than a stain on the rug." It swung again, smashing a table in two. Now, Mizore had to wonder; how had no body noticed such a commotion yet?

She ducked under another strike and made a jab of her own into the creature's stomach. It still didn't seem to react to the damage. The purple haired girl was getting despite. She couldn't do much in such a confined space, and the beast trying to kill her blocked the door. Out of her peripheral, she saw a window she had left open. She leapt for it and landed out side, barely missing another claw swipe. The beast growled in annoyance as it gave chase.

Neither it nor Mizore expected it to be kicked in the face by Naruto, who was still brandishing his serrated wakizashi. "Naruto-kun?" Mizore questioned. The blonde didn't seem to hear her.

"Bastard! Don't go running off while I'm in the middle of kicking your ass! Especially when it's to go after my friends instead!" the beast slowly rose as Naruto ran to stand by Mizore's side. "Are you injured?" he asked.

The girl shook her head. "I'm fine, but what is that?"

Naruto seemed to growl as he stared at the beast grimly. "That's Yakasu, or what's left of him, anyway. I'll explain later, but we need to take him down first." Mizore looked shocked at the revelation that the thing trying to kill her was her sensei, but prepared to take him down nonetheless.

The beast chuckled as it rose to its full, hunched over height. "Heh, looks like you arrived early this time. You're getting better at preserving what matters." It chuckled more as Naruto growled.

"How do you know that?" he demanded.

"I was told many things about you. Things not even your closest friends know about you." It launched into a fit of laughter, putting special emphasis on the word friends. Mizore sent Naruto a weary glance as the boy tightened his grip on his weapon. What did that mean?

The beast launched forwards as both dodged, each giving it a passing slash as they got behind him. It quickly spun around and backhanded Naruto into a dead tree, going after Mizore. She ducked under his defenses and stabbed him multiple times in the stomach. To her horror it just laughed at her attempts to injure it and swatted her away.

As she went skidding, he continued his approach, still laughing. He stood above her form as she stared at him, unable to block what was about to come. "Say goodbye!" he laughed out in an insane voice.

The laugh quickly turned into a hacking cough and a series of gasps as a blade emerged from his throat, only to be ruthlessly and violently yanked out afterwards. The beast collapsed and reverted back to its human form, revealing Naruto standing there. "Goodbye." He stepped over the dying body of Yakasu and helped Mizore up to her feet.

"Thanks. That's the second time you've helped me since I've met you."

"Don't mention it. You're my friend, no matter what you think or what anyone says, and I'll always be there for you." Mizore blushed just a bit, but it was impossible to see due to the lack of light. It was silent besides the wheezing of Yakasu. "I'm gonna' put him out of his misery. Turn away if you want to."

Naruto approached the fallen form and raised his blade to finish the man off, but was stopped. "Wait," he gasped out. "I… I still need to… need to say something." He was forcing out his words by now as his breathing labored even more. Naruto had trouble hearing him and leaned closer.

"Make it quick."

Taking the best breath he could, he continued. "I never wanted this… to ha-happen. I w-was for… forced to. It was a dr-… drug. I couldn't stop it. Pl-… please, you have to kill the one… the one who di-…" he wasn't able to finish as the last of his breath left. Naruto shut his vacant eyes and stood.

"Damn!" was all he could say.

"Naruto, what's going on? What was that about?"

Naruto turned to regard his friend and let out a deep sigh. "Guess there's no use in hiding it any longer. You see, Mizore-chan, I'm not exactly from here."

"Where, Japan? So what? While monsters traveling is uncommon, it's not…" she was cut off as Naruto held up his hand for silence.

"No that's not what I meant. You see… Jashin-sama, how do I explain this?"

'Start from the beginning and be done with it.'

Naruto mentally thanked Kyuubi for his advice and stared once more. "You see, when I was born, something… happened. A demon, you could say, was sealed into me. Because of this, I was seen as a… liability, and was eventually sent away. I met someone who introduced me to Jashinism, my religion. You see, through certain practices and rituals, a Jashinist can become immortal, and apparently the demon sealed into me was created by Jashin-sama for a special purpose. I won't get into the details, so, skipping ahead a few years, I returned home, met a girl, became her boyfriend, and gained some friends." Mizore seemed a little put down at the mention of him already being taken. "However, when I was fighting one of my friends, I lost the connection to the demon and became weak. Then someone, I don't know who he is, he kidnapped her. He killed her." Naruto was now struggling through this. "I regained the connection when I found out, and unleashed so much of the demon's power, I ripped open a portal in my dimensions reality and ended up here. I guess the other guy also came through."

It was silent for a moment as Naruto turned away, waiting for something he feared. What he got was… unexpected to say the least. "That's it?" Naruto spun around, shock evident on his face. "Well I mean, sure, it's horrible and all, but that's not something you need to hide from your friends. Are you going to tell Zetsu?"

"Um… I'll get around to it. You're really not shocked?"

Mizore shrugged. "Stranger things have happened."

'Told you.'

'Shut up!'

"But wait, does this mean you're human?"

"Well, I guess technically you could say that, but not in your standards. You see, in our world, we had civilians, normal people like humans here, and shinobi, who had access to power that let them do feats no human could hope to do. I'm a shinobi."

"I see. Well, now that that's taken care of, what do we do? I mean, seriously, we can't just leave this body here."

"Don't worry about it. I witnessed the whole thing. I must say, though, I am quite intrigued with you, Uzumaki-san." Both jumped and turned around to see a man dressed in white robes and glowing white eyes. Those damn glowing eyes. Naruto suppressed a shudder as he thought of the only other person he knew with glowing eyes.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm the chairman of Youkai Academy. Don't worry, you won't be held at fault, though it is disconcerting that this became of such a great teacher." The chairman shook his head as Naruto relized something he said.

"Wait a minute! You saw the whole thing?!? Then why the fuck didn't you help us?!?"

The chairman shrugged. "You seemed to be doing fine by yourselves." He then gave a creepy smile that matched a certain bus driver's far too much for Naruto's comfort.

"So, what now?" asked Mizore.

The man looked at her and smiled again. "Seeing as it is so close to summer break, we'll simply suspend science classes until afterwards and find a teacher during that time. That will give you a study hall or something. Well, I think that covers everything. You two should get some sleep. Also, this never happened." With that, the chairman took Yakasu's body away.

Naruto was wondering what the fuck just happened and was pretty much at a loss for words. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomarrow," he said stupidly. Mizore just nodded as they walked to their dorms.

/////

Sorry, this came out later than expected, but at least it was longer than I first thought. Complaints, you know how to reach me. Also, I'm not going to go through the effort of finding a beta. If you think I could improve and have qualifications, pm me and we'll see how it goes. I'll stop accepting submissions after March 11. I'm lazy, I know. Deal with it.

In other news, I was thinking about getting another project off the ground. Even though I just thought of it today, I already have a lot of it planned. Don't expect to see it until after next chapter, though. Wish me luck and I'll see you later. This chapter was 4,465 words long! Fuck, really? That's mostly shit I made up on the spot. Wow.


	6. It Can Always Get Worse

Hey everyone. So, I didn't get much feedback last chapter, so I don't know what you think, but I think I did well. Anyway, this is the longest chapter I've done so far and has several plot devices, along with next chapter. That being said, people who read my last story will be in for a surprise next chapter. I've probably said too much, so let's continue.

/////

Disclaimer: Searchlights sprung to life in the darkness as the klaxons sounded, alerting all that something was wrong. Acolyte was putting as much distance between himself and prison as possible, but was tiring fast. He soon found a cave, with a sign above it, saying 'if you own nothing you write about, enter'. Without a second thought, he retreated into the depths of the cave.

/////

Chapter 6: It Can Always Get Worse

There was a bunch of commotion the first thing next day. The class was coming up with multiple reasons for Yakasu's absence. While the official story was that he had accepted a job at another monster school, most people doubted it for numerous reasons; mainly, it was nearly impossible, though not unheard of, for monsters to travel. Also, while there wasn't any doubt that there was another monster school, why would they want someone to go through the trouble of traveling when there were probably more around that area anyway?

So, the students cast aside the story they had been told and decided to create their own. Many had been told, varying in degrees of plausibility, stupidity, redundancy, and hilarity. A few of the more common ones were: a. he was a criminal and the school board handed him over when they found out, b. he didn't really have a teaching license and was sent away, and, of course, c. he went to work for the mafia. Naruto had no idea why that one was widely accepted, though he personally liked the one about him being a registered sex offender and, as punishment, was launched into space. Yes, he admitted it was stupid, but that's what made it funny. Only him, Mizore, and the chairman knew the truth.

As he sat in study hall, he reflected on the exams he had taken the previous day. With the help of Kyuubi, he had passed them all with modest scores and could now focus on training for the next few weeks. Mizore had also passed, and had told him that after class today, she would leave with her club for the human world. He wasn't told what they would be doing there, but wished her well, even though he was a bit disheartened due to the fact that he wouldn't be seeing her for a while. At least he would be able to hang with Zetsu in his free time.

Time ticked by slowly, almost unbearably so. Eventually, it was club time, the last meeting before break. His friends still didn't know what he did, and he intended to keep it that way. He didn't need them worrying about him. Besides he had to abide to his club's rules. He made his way slowly through the trees until, finally, he came to an old warehouse. He walked up closer to it and banged his fist against the slightly rusty door a few times. "Password?" asked a voice after a few seconds.

"Open the fuck up before I shove my shoe up your ass, dickweed." There was a few more seconds of silence before the door creaked open. He received a nod from the doorman as he proceeded into the dimly lit warehouse. An almost unnoticeable grin made its way onto his face. This would be fun.

/////

Shouts and cheers filled the warehouse as a group of people formed a rough tight circle. Two people were inside this manmade ring, each one trying to rip the others head off. It was hard to believe these two were actually part of the same club.

Naruto happened to be one of these people, sweat dripping off of his shirtless body, leaving his sealing tattoo visible and only his rosary dangling from his neck. He was tired, and his muscles ached. Under normal circumstances, he probably could have handed his opponent's ass to him a couple of times now, but that wouldn't have been very fun. No, instead Naruto decided to give himself a handicap similar to everyone else and made it so Kyuubi wouldn't interfere during a fight.

In hindsight, Naruto though, that probably wasn't a good idea for today, as he was sent reeling back from a solid punch to the face. As the crowd pushed him back into the fight, wanting more violence, he quickly determined that he had cracked a couple of teeth. He ignored it, seeing as Kyuubi would heal it quickly enough after the fight, but it stung like fucking hell as he spit out a glob of blood.

As payback, Naruto sent a rather vicious spinning elbow into his opponents solar plexus, followed by ramming his shoulder up into his jaw as he bent over a bit. This only caused the cheers to turn into a roar of praise. Naruto soon found himself falling forwards as his knee was kicked out from behind him. He landed harshly and quickly got back up, just in time to get one of his ribs busted by a kick.

It was obvious to everyone that the blonde was in pain. It was also equally obvious that he wasn't about to give up. As the guy came in for another punch, Naruto caught his arm and got under his guard, sending an elbow strike straight up into his opponents exposed armpit.

Naruto was on an adrenaline high. He didn't hear anything but the beating of his own heart in his ears and the sickening pop that came from the other guy's arm. Everything else was a dull echo. He didn't hear as the match was called. He didn't pay attention as the door was busted down and people started yelling and scrambling to hide.

He also had tunnel vision, seeing only his enemy. His prey. His kill. He didn't even give heed to the unusual thought running through his head. He just kept beating on his motionless opponent. He barely registered the hand that was placed roughly on his shoulder.

He spun around, only to have his nose broken as he fell down, a terrible sense of vertigo overcoming him. It was then that the world started to come into clarity, as Kyuubi worked to heal him. He saw the place full of people in black coats, some with swords at their sides. He looked to see the person who supposedly hit him.

He was a tall man with long, blonde hair that reached his mid back. He also had what seemed to be two small tattoos in the place above where his eyebrows should be. He then started to give orders. "The Student Safety Committee is officially disbanding this club on the grounds of misconduct. Come quietly or face swift punishment." The man had a cruel smirk on his face as he looked down at Naruto. Just as he attempted to get up, he was immediately embraced by unconsciousness as the other blonde curb stomped his head.

/////

Mizore, quite simply put, was worried. Why was she like this, you may ask? Well, first off, no one had seen nor heard from Naruto since the day before summer break. She reassured herself that he was fine, but that didn't hold much water as she could come up with no viable explanation for his absence.

Also, one of her fellow club members was missing, and she had no idea what happened. As she was stalking the halls, seemingly at a lose for what to do, some great deity seemed to smile upon her and qualm some of her worries in the form of several other girls running right for her. She immediately recognized them as her club mates. She her self jogged to meet them.

"Mizore-chan!" shouted the first one, who we all now as Moka. All the girls put their hands to their knees, panting.

"What is it?"

"It's Tsukune-kun, he's in trouble!" continued a well-endowed blue-haired beauty, Kurumu.

At this point, Mizore was growing more anxious. Sure, it was news, but that didn't mean it was necessarily good. For all she knew, Tsukune could be dead, and, while she didn't harbor the same feelings for him the other girls did, he was still her friend. It was the duty of the small, brown-haired girl to finish. "The Student Safety Committee has him, and Gin-san won't help free him!

"What? We need to help him!" that was quickly agreed as everyone set off in the general direction of an exit. They were stopped by a voice.

"Mizore-san, I'm glad I found you." Everyone stopped and turned to the voice. Three out of the four girls were shocked by Zetsu's appearance.

"Zetsu-san? No offence, but we need to hurry." Everyone took off once again, noticing they now had someone else in their group.

"Where are we going, because this is important?"

"What do you mean _we_? Who are you, anyway?" asked Kurumu. Mizore put her at ease.

"Relax, he's a friend. besides, he could help us. To answer your question, Zetsu-san, we're going to the Student Safety Committee's base to free someone."

Zetsu's eyes widened an unnoticeable margin at the mention of this, but quickly reverted to normal. "I see. We had best hurry then." With that, they we're off.

/////

Naruto wearily opened his eyes and surveyed the dank cell he was currently locked up in. in was small and there was a draft, and him missing his shirt with only the tattered remains of his pants and shoes left only made that last fact worse. He repressed a shudder as he though back to what happened… he didn't know. It could have been hours, days, months even. It didn't matter. Time had no meaning here.

At first, his whole club had occupied the cells surrounding his. Slowly, they dragged them out, one by one, forced them to scream, filling those left with dread. It didn't faze him much and the guards knew it, his club mates knew it, and that only served to make him more isolated. But, at the time, why would he care? He would last longer than this iron and concrete. He smirked a bit at the cruel irony of it all, as this was what would eventually be of him.

He had tried to bust out the moment he was brought back into consciousness, but the cell, it seemed to just drain him of energy. He couldn't even contact Kyuubi. It had been a while since he was fed, ever since they dragged the last one away, the one who would even spare him a glance when he talked. The one who helped keep him sane. He supposed that they would torture him this way. Maybe they just forgot about him and didn't intend this. It didn't matter. The lack of food was just an inconvenience, making him a bit weaker and lightheaded.

Human stimulation, however, was something he needed desperately. He gripped his rosary and silently prayed that someone, anyone, would come to check up on him. Jashin-sama seemed to be listening, as it was then he heard hurried footsteps and talking. He leaned against the bars, hoping to get a better idea of who it was. _'A guard? Maybe I can get out of here some how if I trick him.'_

It was then he could make out what the voices were saying. "Where are we going? We should be headed that way?"

"I know, but there's something I need to do first. It's just around this corner, trust me."

"You'd better be right."

"Lighten up on him. He did help us."

_Wait, there's more than one. Shit, I'll never overpower them all as I am now. But, those voices sounds familiar. And feminine' _He decided at this point, it didn't much matter, as he called out to the group that was headed his way. "Hey! Down here!" his voice came out dry and cracked, a testament to how long he went without using it.

He listened with bated breath as the footsteps seemed to approach him faster and faster, until finally he saw his saviors. Imagine how shocked he was to see Mizore and Zetsu. At the same time, he was extremely glad. Hell, he was even glad to see Tsukune and his harem. "Naruto?!?" asked Mizore, Tsukune, and Moka in shock.

"Hey Mizore-chan, Zetsu, Tsukune, Moka, bitches I don't know," was his casual response, though Yukari and Kurumu were slightly miffed at how he regarded them.

"Wait, you know them?" asked Mizore, referring to Moka and Tsukune, and them likewise to her and Zetsu. Naruto just gave a slight nod.

"Yeah. Look, can we have this reunion later and focus on busting me out?" Mizore used her ice claws to pick the lock and in moments his cell was opened. Naruto grinned as he took his first weary steps outside. Almost immediately, he could feel some of his energy returning to him, as Kyuubi worked to fix the neglect to his systems.

"What were you in there for, exactly?" asked Yukari with some trepidation. She was worried about freeing a stranger from lock up, but if Tsukune was comfortable around him, she could deal with it.

He gave a little shrug, causing his visible muscles to ripple slightly, and the girls to blush, especially Mizore. Naruto, of course, didn't notice. "My club wasn't exactly… sanctioned, and these fuck heads some how found out about it. Speaking of which…" Naruto unsealed his wakizashi, catching most everyone by surprise as smoke exploded from his tattoo and in the next moment, the blade was in his hands, the rope already looped around his torso. "Where's that blonde fuck, I need to pay him back for some… collateral damage."

"You mean Kuyou?" asked Kurumu. "We were told to avoid him at all cost. If you want to fight him, you're gonna' have to do it on your own time. Right now, we need to leave." Naruto growled.

"Fuck that! You don't know what he did to both me and my club! Hell, they're probably dead because of that fucker! I'm not leaving 'till that shithead is in a hole!"

"You dumbass! Didn't you hear what I just said?!?" was the blue haired girl's response.

"He's right." Everyone turned to Tsukune, a look of determination on his face. "He's nothing but a bully that uses force to get what he wants, and he needs to be stopped."

"Umm, Tsukune-kun, aren't you forgetting something?" asked Moka. It was clear what the hidden message was. 'You're human.'

"That doesn't matter. We still need to do something."

"Glad to see someone's making sense," Naruto said with a grin.

Mizore gave a reluctant sigh. " You're impossible, Naruto-kun. If you're going, I guess I'll help you out."

"I also own you, Naruto-san. You can count on me." after Zetsu's remark, Tsukune joined him. This also caused the other three to join, and soon after, the group of seven was lurking down the halls. It was only a matter of time before they came upon a large room and were met by their target.

"Am I right in assuming that it was you five that helped those two escape?" asked Kuyou, referring to both Naruto and Tsukune. He was just standing there, hands folded behind his back, a grimace on his face.

Naruto gave a slight chuckle as he stood at the front of the group. "You can stop acting all high and mighty you fucktard. You're outnumbered. So, just let us kick your ass, and you'll save everyone the trouble." Naruto's statement would have angered most. It would have produced undignified and rebellious responses. Kuyou didn't fit into these categories.

The blonde's laughter rang throughout the hollowed halls and the chamber they were currently in. as it eventually died down, he gave a response, once again all serious. "Fool! You think that monsters of your caliber stand a chance against me?!? Look at your group! One is obviously a hybrid, another a half-ling, and I have reason to believe that your fellow prisoner is human. That leaves a few timid little girls and yourself. I don't think I'll have much difficulty. And, to top off your display of audacity, you openly challenge me. Those who go against me go against Youkai Academy, and it is my duty to eliminate your kind."

Naruto seemingly had enough of the speech and charged straight for the man. Most were surprised with the speed at which he dodged and delivered a kick to Naruto's exposed side. As he skidded across the ground, he eventually created enough friction to stop and flip back up to his feet. As soon as he looked up, he was met with Kuyou's fist.

As the head of the SSC was about to press the attack, he was forced to dodge a strike made by Mizore, ice claws out, that would have hit him in the chest, followed by having to duck under Kurumu's attempt to cut his head off. This played out in his favor, as the blue-haired girl flew into her purple-haired friend.

Zetsu was still standing over by Tsukune, Yukari, and Moka, helping the witch get the injured over to the area. "Well, this isn't good," said the bi-coloured man rather blandly.

"No shit," was the only response from Naruto, nursing his wound.

"Now do you see the error of your ways?" spoke Kuyou. He now had a maniacal grin on his face. "Don't you see what your friendship with that human has done to you?" he pointed to Tsukune, who had his head down, his hair shadowing his eyes. "He's made you weak. He has yet to do anything. He doesn't care as you get beaten; he only wishes to use you. Humans can't be trusted."

"You're wrong." Everyone turned to Tsukune to see him shaking.

"Come again?" the smirk on Kuyou's face only served to make the brunette all the more angry.

"You're wrong," he repeated, louder. "I care for my friends, and I'm not going to let you make them think otherwise." Before anyone could stop him, Tsukune began to charge at the smirking blonde.

"Fool! What do you hope to do?!?" before the brunette reached his target, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see a boy, his black hair held back by a red headband. He just shook his head.

"Exactly what did you think you would accomplish?" was all he said.

"Gin-senpai?" Tsukune asked with perplexity.

"Go back to everyone else. You don't stand a chance."

"Hmm, so you are behind this. I knew I should have dealt with you when I had the chance. It would have saved me so much trouble." The blonde shook his head. "No matter. Better later than never, I suppose."

"They didn't deserve what you did to them, Kuyou. Neither do these guys. But this isn't about them. It's about stoppin' you." Faster than anyone could see, Gin disappeared. T he next thing people knew, he was behind Kuyou, who collapsed face down on the ground.

'_Fast!'_ was the thought on everyone's mind. As gin began to approach the group, he didn't notice as Kuyou began to get back up.

"You think that's it? You think I would be defeated after that? You're sorely mistaken." Fire seemed to explode from the blonde's body. It began to take shape before it finally assumed the form of a four-tailed kitsune.

"Crap!" was all Gin said as he noticed that Kuyou was charging an attack. As he launched it, gin jumped in front of Kurumu, taking the full blow. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

"**Hahaha, you don't stand a chance now. Your only life line is gone."**

"Tsukune, quick! Take off my rosary!" he nodded, but before he could, Kuyou launched another fire attack, throwing the boy a few yards away. "Tsukune!" Moka ran over to the boy as Zetsu brought Gin over near them. Everyone gathered around to see if they were okay.

"It doesn't look good." Zetsu inspected both of the burn victims. "Gin is only unconscious and should by fine, but Tsukune seems to be dying." Kurumu was an emotional wreak at that point, crying it was her fault Gin was like this along with her love interest. Yukari was too scared to do anything and Moka just stared at Tsukune's downed form cradled in her arms. Mizore was faring slightly better, but was still worried about her friends. Zetsu was impartial to the whole thing, seeing as he had years of training in this kind of thing.

However, Naruto was arguably the worst off. _'It's my fault,'_ he thought. _'I dragged everyone into this, and now, Tsukune and someone I don't even know are both injured. But they wanted to help. They're like… friends. I hurt my friends.'_

'_**So do something about it,'**_ spoke a voice. It wasn't Kyuubi, as this voice didn't come with a burning sensation in his skull. Instead, it seemed to resonate with numbness throughout his very being. It was more like a squawking, as well, instead of a growl. He could feel Kyuubi's apprehension, his worry, but couldn't actually hear him, so he ignored it. Besides, the voice was right. He could feel a predatory grin as he thought that. _**'You know what to do.'**_

While this was going on, Kuyou began to laugh more. **"Give up, and I'll kill you all as painlessly as possible."**

"We need to give Tsukune aid right now if we want him to survive. To do that, we need to leave. Even then, we might not make it." everyone was quiet. They saw no way to truly win. Then, Moka spoke up.

"No, there's still something I can do. Tsukune-kun, please take off my rosary." With a trembling hand, the boy reached up and grasped the cross seal. It came off with a quiet 'click', but everyone heard it.

Power exploded from the girl as she grew, before an older, silver-haired woman was in her place. **"I'm sorry if this hurts." **The vampire then sunk her fangs into the boy's neck. He gasped at the sensation, and fell unconscious once she was done.

"What did you just do?!?" asked Kurumu.

"**I injected some of my blood into him. A vampire's blood has amazing properties, but also some ill side effects. I don't know what will happen to Tsukune-san, considering he's human, but he might still die. Our best is to still get him out of here. I'm a bit weak right now with what I just did, but I should be able to hold him off long enough for you to get out of here." **She rose to face Kuyou, who in turn shifted forms again.

While from the waist down he was still fox-like with four tails, his head and torso was human. Tattoos were visible on his chest, and he had fox ears of fire on the top of his head. **"I can sense your weakness, vampire. Even you don't stand a chance."**

Just as the two were about to charge at each other, something happened. Raw power just started flooding out of Naruto. It started slowly at first, slowly leaking out like thick, orange ink. The, it just exploded, engulfing the boy in an oppressive haze of heat.

As it cleared a bit, the saw him down on all fours, his nails like claws, sharp teeth, wild hair, and broader whisker marks. "N-Naruto?" Mizore asked tentatively. Silently, the boy looked to her, showing red eyes with slits down the middle. It was obvious that this was not Naruto.

It became harder to breath as the orange energy began to take shape. It conformed to his body, giving claws, long ears and a long tail. It wasn't enough. He needed to mimic the monster in front of him, Kuyou. It was almost an instinctual need. He drew on more power, as Kyuubi shouted in his head. _**'Stop! You can't control this! You can barely control yourself without the actual cloak, so what are you thinking?!?'**_

It was soon that Naruto himself appeared in his mind, before being trapped by a cage of Kyuubi's power. "What the?" a hollow laughter rang through the halls of his mindscape. Kyuubi's eyes widened in fear.

"**Thank you, Uzumaki. Don't worry; I'll take care of your body. In fact, in exchange for this freedom, I'll give what you most want, no matter the cost." **There was more laughter before all went quiet.

"Kyuubi, what just happened?!?"

"**I… I don't know. It's not good though. I thought I was the only one hear. Listen, you need to regain control of your body now. There's no telling what could happen. Get out of the cage, and I'll try to find out what's going on." **Naruto touched the bars, only to quickly retract his now melted hands.

He fell to his knees in pain as his melted appendages slowly healed, almost agonizingly slow. Suddenly, a screen popped to life, showing what was going on, and in his head, he could hear the thoughts of whatever was controlling his body.

Back outside, Naruto's body had now accumulated three tails, meaning that his already potent energy had become more so, and he became more fox-like. Most everyone was frozen in place, all but Moka, Zetsu, and Kuyou, the latter who felt little to no side effects, but was caught up by a morbid fascination. Everyone was shocked as a fourth tail sprouted.

Naruto's skin just began to burn off, showing blood vessels, but he seemed to ignore in. what was left was a dark red husk that seemed to flow and ripple with movement. You could tell were his head was due to the ears, but you couldn't see his face. Then, two white orbs of lights burst into being on his face, showing his eyes, followed by a crack of the same light below that, going half way along his head. The jagged crack burst open, showing his mouth.

When it seemed that he was done, Kuyou spoke, voice full of awe. **"I've heard legends describing a power like this. The Kyuubi no Kitsune, the founder of our race, was said to have a presence like this, but stronger. Yet, you think I would believe some the likes of you would be the demon god? You insult me." **with that, he charged at Naruto.

The boy took the punch, watching as Kuyou quickly pulled his fist back, a burn mark on it. Naruto took this recoil to attack. He launched one of his claws out, grabbing the kitsune and slamming him into the ground, the ceiling, anything, before putting him through a wall that collapsed on him.

Everyone felt a power source disappear and it became obvious Kuyou was out cold. With that, he turned his attention to Moka, the next strongest person in the chamber. He charged her as she quickly ducked under him and kicked him in the stomach. He flew away as Moka held her foot, a nasty burn on it. "W-what's going on?!?" asked a frightened Yukari.

"Naruto-san is no longer in control of himself." Everyone tuned to Zetsu, wondering just what he meant. Then, to make matters worse, another power source became evident. Tsukune began to get up, blue marks on his neck from where he was bitten. Everyone noticed that his pupils were slits like Moka's as he surveyed his surroundings. When he found Naruto, who resembled the one who attacked him, he began to attack him.

"We need to stop this!" said Mizore. She was worried. Tsukune was not himself, nor was Naruto. But, when she looked into the boy's eyes that first time, she saw something. When she looked into Naruto's red eyes, a voice in her head seemed to say 'I'll kill you'. It just made her fear for Naruto more.

Tsukune didn't seem to be affected by the burns he received as a result from touching Naruto. Instead he just kept attacking. As Naruto skidded across the floor, he sent a claw at Tsukune. He caught it, but wasn't expecting another torso to sprout from the arm and claw him across the chest. Apparently, in his still weakened state, that was enough to knock him out.

"Naruto, stop!" he turned his head to Mizore, who stood there, staring him down. There was sadness in her eyes as she looked at him. Everybody yelled at her to run as Naruto pounced towards her, but she didn't. She thought that somehow, this would help Naruto, and if it didn't, did she want to live?

In his mind, Naruto was afraid. He was afraid that Mizore would die, and that it would be him to kill her. "No," he said. He had told her the truth; she understood him and was his best friend. He… he loved her, he relized, and wasn't about to let this happen. His fear, his anger, all his emotions left him at that moment, being replaced by determination. Without a second thought, he grasped the bars, ignoring the pain, and with all his might, bent the cage. When he had enough room, he walked out.

The claw stopped inches from Mizore's face, and she could feel the heat. A hand, lacking both skin and the energy, was reaching out to stop the claw. Naruto's hand. He grasped his head and screamed in pain. Slowly, the energy began to disappear, before only Naruto was left behind, muscle and blood vessels still showing.

The boy dropped to his knees as he stared at Mizore. He let out a small, soft smile and said one thing before he succumbed to the pain and unconsciousness. "I'm sorry, Mizore-chan."

Everybody rushed over to him, surprised to see that his skin was already healing. With out a second thought, Zetsu grabbed Naruto, Tsukune and Gin already slung over his shoulders. "Come on, we need to leave. I have a feeling this place is about to collapse, and I don't want to be around when it does. We can drop these guys off at the infirmary afterwards, now come on." With a nod, everyone made their way to the nearest exit.

When they were gone, a form approached the pile of rubble that housed Kuyou. A slight chuckle was heard as a dark voice spoke. "You could be used, changed for the better, therefore, you will live. Consider this your lucky day, boy." More dark laughter was heard as the roof began to collapse and the room caved in.

/////

Yeah, sorry I ended it that way, but it was the best way I could think of. Sad, isn't it. Still, no one has offered to be my beta, so I'll just leave that open until someone does.

Next time, the questions just keep piling up, as few answers are to be found. What is going on with Naruto, and how is his relationship with his friends now? Read on to find out. Yeah, about that. Some things came up recently, so if next chapters late compared to my 'schedule', you'll hopefully understand that I was busy. So, until then, whatever. This chapter was 5,262 words long! I guess that's good.


	7. Ghost

There really isn't much to say right now. I noticed that recently authors in this category have been updating like no tomarrow with at least one a day. Unfortunately, it means people browsing through there have little chance to see this after it's buried under eight other stories. Oh well.

/////

Disclaimer: Acolyte ventured further into the cave, shivering as he went. It just gave him a bad vibe, and he wondered if he should even be here. The barking of dogs reassured him in his decision to press forward. Suddenly, a luminescent being appeared before him. "Halt! Who art thou who dare desecrate a place a sacred as this?"

"Um… I'm Acolyte, and there are some guys out side looking for me, so if you could keep it down…" he left the statement hanging.

"Oh, my apologies. I sense your troubles lie within the lack of a disclaimer." The being received a nod. "Does thou wish to know where it went wrong?" Another nod. "Very well. Say the sacred words."

"I own nothing that grants me monetary value from this." The two disappeared in a flash.

/////

Chapter 7: Ghost

Lazily, Naruto half opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was how incredibly white the ceiling is, and how the light seemed to be shining _right_ in his eyes, causing him to close them again. As soon as he became a bit more accustomed to the bright hell of a room he was in, he reopened his eyes. Naruto reeled back further into the bed he was in, trying to get away from the scent that suddenly overpowered him. After a few moments, he relized it was an antiseptic.

As he shifted around, he found that his bed was giving him rather good support. In fact, if he could get some better sheets, the bed would make the light and smell more bearable. As it was, he just wanted to leave now. As he shifted about, he winced from the ache his muscles were giving off. Okay, screw ache, his body _burned_. Even the slightest movement sent waves of fire through him. After realizing it wasn't about to get any better ant time soon, he decided to just sit up and deal with the consequences later.

Those consequences came right after the fact, causing him to take in a sharp inhalation of breath. The sound was enough to alert the other person in the room to his conscious state. "Naruto-kun?" Naruto's head whipped around, causing him to gasp in pain from his neck feeling like it was being ripped apart from the inside.

When he stopped seeing spots, he was finally able to see who it was in the room with him. "Mizore-chan?" his voice came out rough, and it hurt his throat to speak, but he was surprised to see the purple-haired girl curled up in a chair across from his bed. From the looks of things, she had been asleep in that chair, waiting for him. That just made him feel worse, especially after what he had done… what he had almost done. He was going to need to talk to Kyuubi after this.

Mizore got up from her resting spot and approached his bed. "Please lie back down, Naruto-kun. It's obvious that you're not yet fully healed." Seeing genuine concern in the girls face, he did as she asked, wincing just a bit as he made contact. The pain was becoming more tolerable by the moment.

"Mizore-chan… I'm sorry about what happened, I…" Mizore placed a finger to his lips, asking him to be quiet. A bit shocked by the action, he quickly complied.

"Naruto-kun, I know you weren't in complete control of yourself, and, therefore, you weren't at fault. Besides, you were able to regain your senses before anything bad happened, along with being able to save everyone. You have nothing to worry about, and I'm sure the others would agree."

"But…"

"No 'buts', Naruto-kun." Mizore gave him an icy look, saying that the topic was closed and that arguing would be useless. He perked up a bit as a question came to mind.

"Hey, What happened after I blacked out, anyway? How long was I out?"

"Well, Gin-senpai was treated for some second-degree burns and was released shortly after. Tsukune had some less serious burns and a concussion, and has also been released. As for you, you've been out for about six-hours. If you're ready, the doctor said that you should be able to leave as soon as you regain consciousness. But, seeing as you're in pain, I wouldn't advise that."

Disregarding that last statement, Naruto sat up and tossed the sheets off him, followed by swinging his legs over the side of the bed and stepping onto the cool floor. He only had his rags for pants on, but that wasn't going to stop him from leaving. "Don't worry about it, I'm feeling better already."

"You sure?" Mizore received a nod of the head as a response. "In that case, there's a pile of clothing over there on the counter for you. I'm sorry, but we couldn't find your sword." She was a bit ashamed that she had to give him bad news, but he would have found out eventually, and it was best to get it out of the way now.

As Naruto approached the girl, he put a comforting hand on her shoulder and gave a reassuring smile. "Hey, don't worry about it. It was probably resealed due to the influx of my energy anyway."

"In that case, I'll give you some privacy." With that, Mizore left the room. True to her words, Naruto found a new uniform for him on the counter, along with his pendant. He quickly got dressed and exited the room. Out side, he found Mizore propped up against the wall, waiting for him.

"You ready to go?" he asked, drawing the girl's attention.

"Sure. By the way, while you were out, the chairmen stopped by. He wanted to see you in his office once you got out. You should probably get over there right away."

Naruto gave an affirmative nod. "Sure, I'll see you in class tomarrow, Mizore-chan." The girl gave a small smile and began to walk Naruto to the exit. After he checked out and they got out the door, they started to go there separate ways. Before they got to far away from each other, Naruto called back to her. "Oh, and Mizore-chan," she looked back to him, "thanks for helping me."

She gave another smile. "No problem, Naruto-kun." She began on her way again, but another call from Naruto stopped her."

"Wait." Naruto jogged over to Mizore as she turned to him completely. What happened next, not even Naruto expected. "Thanks for being my friend." With that Naruto embraced her. After a few moments, she also gave him a hug. They stood like that for a few moments before Naruto broke off, a bit flustered. "Umm, I should probably go. I'll see ya, Mizore-chan."

The girl just watched the blonde's retreating back, blushing over what just happened. "Naruto-kun." She smiled and continued to watch his back. He truly was her best friend in this school, and maybe he could eventually be more. She stopped that train of thought right there, figuring she was getting ahead of herself. Then again, it was nice to think it could happen.

/////

As far as Naruto was concerned, it was by sheer luck that he found the chairman's office. First off, he barely knew his way around the school. Secondly, he didn't encounter anyone he could ask for information. Finally, he couldn't seem to get out of his mind the encounter he'd had with Mizore earlier, despite his efforts to think of something else. It was almost like someone in his head was watching a show and had one of those damn DVRs, so they could just keep rewinding back to that one part in the show only they find amusing.

Deep in Naruto's subconscious, Kyuubi laughed in delight as he once again watched the tender moment between friends, especially enjoying as the two got flustered. Yes, life was tolerable for the Bijuu as long as he had moments like this.

Anyway, getting back on topic, Naruto stood before the massive slabs of wood that the chairman called doors. Hesitantly, he reached up and firmly raped his knuckled against the thick oak a few times. There was a few seconds of silence, before he heard a voice on the other side call him. "Yes, come in."

The blonde was surprised at how light the doors actually were, but, since he wasn't expecting that, he ended up stumbling through after a heavy push. Quickly regaining his equilibrium, he took this time to survey the office.

In all actuality, it was incredibly bleak. He spotted several skulls on the desk alone, a few being used to hold candles. In fact, besides the giant windows behind the chairman, which gave a rather nice few of the school grounds, candles were located around the room as the only light source. There were also impressive bookshelves on either side of the room. Naruto didn't get the chance to investigate further as he heard his name called.

"Ahh, Uzumaki-san. I've been expecting you. Please, take a seat." The boy did as the creepy chairman asked, sitting in a chair right in front of the desk. Before Naruto had the chance to ask why he was there, he was once again interrupted. "Now, do the two of you understand why you're here?"

'_Wait, two?'_ for the first time, Naruto relized that he wasn't the only one in the room, bar the chairman. Standing right behind him was a certain bi-coloured giant. "Zetsu? When did you get here?"

"I have been here since before you arrived, Naruto-san. As for your question, chairman, I presume it has to do with both of our clubs."

'_Both of our clubs? I thought he was in gardening club. How did he get in trouble with that.' _Now Naruto was really confused, and he could restrain his curiosity no longer. "Wait a second, I can understand how my club could land me here, but what about Zetsu's?" Naruto felt as if the chairman's glowing eyes were attempting to look into his soul and burn it, cooking him from the inside out. After a few seconds of awkward silence, his question was answered.

"You see, Zetsu-san here was part of a club that grew a certain illegal controlled substance in their greenhouse, where they then proceeded to sell it for a profit. When he caught wind of what was really going on, I was informed and promptly shut the club down. As such, both of you are without clubs, which leaves the question, what do I do with you?" explained the headmaster.

"Well, do we really need a club? It seems like a waste of time."

"Well, Uzumaki-san, that depends. Do you wish to graduate?" the blonde fell silent at that. The chairman grinned as he stood up from his desk and turned to face the window. "I'll take that as a yes. So, I guess that it is lucky for you two that there is one club that has yet to meet a proper quota of members." The chairman turned back to his desk and scribbled something down on a scrap piece of paper. He then handed it to Naruto. "I want you both to report to this room tomarrow for club activities. I'm sure you'll both have a wonderful time. And if not, too bad, this is non-negotiable. Now, go get some rest you two. Your new science and homeroom teacher arrives tomarrow." With that, the two were shooed out of the room, where the doors slammed behind them.

"I suppose I will see you tomarrow, Naruto-san. Goodbye. Also, it is good to see that you are well." With that, Zetsu went off to do whatever it was that he did when he was alone.

"Yeah, see ya." And so, Naruto also went his own way, wondering, what club he was now in, who this mysterious new teacher was, and what had happened with Mizore.

/////

As Naruto walked to school the next day, he couldn't help but here the talk of several students. Seeing as he had been in a cell for the past few weeks, he was a bit curious about what the current talk around school was. "Hey, did you here someone took out Kuyou?!?" asked a boy in an exited whisper to three of his friends.

"You mean Kuyou as in head of the Student Safety Committee? No way, that guy's unstoppable!" argued one of the friends.

"No, it's true! Didn't you feel that energy spike yesterday? Apparently that was from the guy who did it! And it even caused the entire base to collapse!" he argued, trying desperately to get his friends to believe him.

"I think he's telling the truth. I heard something similar." said another friend.

"I still say both of you are full of shit." Was the harsh answer from the second guy.

"I agree. That power spike was too strong to be natural. It was most likely an influx in the earth's natural youkai levels. It was a coincidence that it was concentrated at that area." This came from the third friend of the guy who brought the conversation up in the first place.

"Fine, don't listen, but that's not the point! Apparently it was a freshman who did it!" said the exasperated kid.

"Okay, now I know you're full of bullshit."

"Yes, please don't expect us to believe that."

"Quiet frankly, I find that an insult to my intelligence. I'll believe everything you said besides that."

Even the friend who had yet to say anything nodded. "B-but… you know what, forget it. Why do I bother?" said the guy, utterly defeated.

Naruto was slightly annoyed that the only thing these guys were talking about was him. He was about to move on when the last guy finally said something.

"Okay, moving on. Did you guy's here about Yakasu's replacement?" for obvious reasons, this caught Naruto's attention.

"Yeah, he starts today, don't he?" said the second guy.

"Holy fuck! Hell, I saw him, and I feel bad for anybody who has him." said the original guy.

"Sure you did." The fourth guy said, rolling his eyes.

"No, I'm serious! He's this big ass fucker and-and, I hear he's a hybrid, and-oh he took on a vampire and won!"

"Okay, who told you that, seriously?" asked the fifth guy. It was quite obvious he was growing tired of his friend's antics.

Naruto himself was growing tired, and at this rate he would be late for class, so he went on his way. He would find out for himself what this guy was like. He heard one last bit of information as he left. "I heard one of the faculty call him Amami-sensei…"

'_Amami-sensei, eh? But really, did that guy expect anyone to believe his shit? I guess I'll find out for myself how much is true.' _ Naruto arrived at the classroom and took his usual seat in front of Mizore, who was one of the first to arrive. He, on the other hand, was usually one of the last.

There was no talking between the two, which Naruto was slightly thankful for, yet left him kind of disappointed at the same time. On one hand, he wouldn't have to deal with the awkwardness that came with the friendly hug. On the other, she also seemed to not want to talk about what happened. He was suddenly distracted as the tone sounded.

In the moments afterwards, soft footfalls could be heard from down the hall, approaching the door. The class awaited, eager and with bated breath, for everyone was curious as to whom this mysterious Amami-sensei was. Within moments, the footstep stopped outside the door, and a silhouette was visible from the other side of the tempered glass of the door.

Everyone, some trembling in anticipation, watched as the doorknob slowly turned. With an audible click in the silent room, the door swung open. For Naruto, that click reverberated throughout his very being and pounded in his head for what seemed to be an eternity, for the figure who walked through the doorway was _the_ last person he either expected or wanted to see.

'_No.'_ That one thought echoed as Naruto took inventory of the man that looked no more than twenty-six. He was an impressive 6'7 and was dressed in black slacks, shoes, a white undershirt, and a white lab coat that reached his knees. He had short brown hair that made him look as if he had just woken up. A small scar was located just under his left orange eye. A black eye patch obstructed the view of his right eye. From his unmovable line if a mouth hung a lit cigarette, eliciting coughs and ridicule from the class. It was also worth noting that the sleeve of his right arm was pinned up.

Quiet murmurs ran rampant throughout the room as the man took a seat at his new desk. "What the fuck? He looks terrible!"

"He's smoking… in a classroom… with kids in it… and he's our teacher?"

"He is kind of hot though. You know, in that rugged, mysterious kind of way."

"You think it's true what they say? That he killed a vampire?"

These were just some of the remarks the students made as Amami surveyed the room with his one visible eye. Naruto barely paid attention to them, though. The blonde was pale, and sweat was slowly dripping down his brow. He was thinking but one thing. _'No. Is it possible? He's… he's dead. Is it… can it really be? You son of a bitch… why are you here, Konjyoyaki?'_

As soon as he thought that, Konjyoyaki's eye landed on Naruto. As it stayed there, Naruto felt his disbelief and fear ebb away, only to be replaced by hatred and… shame? Why shame? Before Naruto had time to ponder this, Konjyoyaki spoke in his quiet, calm, yet powerful tone, but there was an accent there that Naruto couldn't remember him having before. "Class, as you very well know, I am Amami-sensei, and I shall be addressed as such. Now, I'm aware that you have been without a science teacher for quite some time, so we will get to work right away. I will work you like dogs if I have to, just to get you caught up on what you missed. Now…" he turned to write something on the board behind him. Naruto tuned him out for the rest of class, opting for staring at his desk instead. He needed time to digest this new situation.

/////

Naruto, along with Zetsu, stood in front of the door of the club they were assigned to. Reluctantly, Naruto eventually knocked. When the door opened, they were met with the sight of a blonde woman with glasses. A tuft of hair stood out on either side of her head, resembling cat ears. In fact, her whole demeanor was cat like. She cocked her head to the side and asked, "Yes, how can I help you?"

"Umm, hello, we've been assigned to this club from now on due to some recent events resulting in the closing of our original clubs."

The woman had a smile on her face ads she heard this. "O, I was told about you! You can call me Nekonome-sensei. I'm the facilitator of the newspaper club. Come on in!"

The moment Naruto heard newspaper, his mind started racing. He didn't have much time to think as when the woman stepped away, he was met with a handful of familiar faces. He twitched a bit as he stepped into the room. "Of course. Today is just full of surprises."

/////

It's not that Naruto wasn't glad that he was in a club surrounded by friends and acquaintances. It was just that he had a lot on his mind, and most everyone seemed to pick up on it. To ignore them, he engrossed himself in scanning articles, searching for errors and thinking of how to make them more appealing.

Eventually, Mizore pulled him into the hall outside the room so they could talk. "Naruto-kun, you're acting strange. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. It's probably just from sitting in that cell for so long. Trust me Mizore-chan, I'm fine." Mizore let out a sigh as she fixed Naruto with a look.

"I know when you're lying, Naruto-kun." Both were silent for a moment. Before Naruto was about to speak, Mizore did first. "Look, if this is about that hug earlier, don't worry about it. I… I enjoyed it, but I don't want that to make things awkward between us." Mizore turned her head away to hide her blush.

Naruto himself was blushing but quickly hid it. "That was on my mind, but that's not it. It's… it's Amami-sensei. I… I know him…knew him… from before." Mizore gave him a surprised look.

"But I though you were from a different world? How is that possible?"

"I don't know. But that's not what worries me. You see… he's supposed to be dead."

"Okay, but that doesn't exactly explain who he is."

"You know how I told you certain people were stronger than normal civilians?" he received a nod. "He was by far one of the most powerful people I have ever encountered. And each time I fought him… he was just playing with me. He…" Naruto was cut off as a presence made itself known.

"It's not nice to talk about people behind their backs, Uzumaki." Both teens jumped and looked to see who had interrupted them. It was Konjyoyaki, cigarette lit and hand shoved into his coat pocket. "Follow me, and I'll tell you all you want to know." With that the man turned around and started walking. After a bit of hesitation, Naruto followed, who was followed by Mizore.

A little walking later led the trio to the roof of the school. Konjyoyaki still had his back turned, staring out to the sky. Naruto finally spoke. "Why are you here."

He received a shrug. "I'm hard to kill."

"That's not what I asked."

"Think about it. As far as I know, there's only one way to travel across dimensions. I think it's quite obvious that I somehow found a portal." With that he turned to face the kids. "However, I'm more concerned as to why you're here. Shouldn't you be taking care of Haku?"

Naruto looked down as his hands clenched into fists and shook. Konjyoyaki saw this and had his eye narrow a little. A slight frown marred his face. "I see. Do you know who did it?" Naruto shook his head.

Suddenly, Mizore spoke up. "Excuse me, but who are you exactly? How did you know this Haku? From what I understand, she was Naruto-kun's girlfriend."

Konjyoyaki seemed to examine her a bit before he nodded to himself. "Nice choice Uzumaki." Both teens were confused by what he meant. "To answer your question, Shirayuki-san, my name is Amami Konjyoyaki. I was the uncle of Amami Haku. I was also a master swords man and, for a time, hired assassin. I was then part of a certain organization focused on Uzumaki-san here. In truth, I was a double agent convinced to help him anyway I could by someone who wanted him safe. There was someone else who was also employed by this man. You can come out now, Zetsu-san." Both were shocked as Zetsu just seemed to appear out of nowhere behind them.

"Zetsu, how do you know Konjyoyaki?!?"

"That's the best disguise you could come up with? Drop it." Zetsu listened to Konjyoyaki and shifted to his true form. His right side lost its mouth and its eye shifted to a perfect yellow circle. The left side's teeth became pointed. He grew a few feet until he was taller than Konjyoyaki, and plant-like extensions sprouted from his shoulders. "Does he seem more familiar now, or do I really need to tell you?"

In Naruto's head, the story of how Konjyoyaki met Hidan replayed in his head over and over. He keyed into a spot where he mentioned someone who matched Zetsu's current description. "You're with Akatsuki." It was a statement.

At Zetsu's nod, Konjyoyaki smirked a bit. "I'm surprised you didn't relies earlier. Hell, I even gave you his name."

Naruto just growled. "Shut up. Zetsu, how did you get here?"

"I was sucked into the rift you opened up when you met the cloaked man." The explanation was short and sweet, as Zetsu answered in a deadpan.

"Oh. Now, why are you here, Konjyoyaki?"

"I found a lead." Naruto didn't quite know what he meant, but it wasn't that important.

"Are you going to harm my friends or me?"

"No."

"Heh, I've heard that before."

"Listen, I didn't even know you were here Uzumaki. I swear I will try to keep you out of this mess. Someday, I'll tell you everything, but not now." With that, he walked away.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier." Naruto turned to Zetsu, who was now back in his disguise.

"It's fine, I guess. Come on, the others must be worried." As the three walked down the halls, Mizore spoke.

"Well, he seems nice."

"Don't believe anything he say's Mizore-chan. He may seem nice, he may seem disabled, but back home, they called him the Yuurei no Kiri. He can kill you and you wouldn't even know it. Just… please just be careful." With that, they reentered the clubroom.

/////

Back on the roof, Konjyoyaki looked out over at the setting sun. Suddenly, he launched into a massive coughing fit. He was forced to his knees as he gasped for breath, wiping the blood off of his chin. He wearily stood up as he once again looked out to the sun.

"Sorry I couldn't keep my promise, Uzumaki, but the opportunity is too good to pass up. You will serve me one day, whether you want to or not, if only to keep another promise. But, if it means my goals are met, I will feel no remorse if you lose somebody close to you. I'm sorry you're just so vulnerable.

/////

Yeah, feel free to hate me. I won't blame you. Really, I'm sorry, but Konjyoyaki's the first OC I really got into the head of. I couldn't just kill him. Besides, he's vital to the future plot. In other news, my new project, 'The Natural Biotic', is now also out. Go read it.

Who exactly can Naruto trust? Is Mizore his only hope in retaining some sense of self? And why does his life seem to be going to hell? Stay tuned to find out! This chapter 4,497 was words long!


	8. The Fan and a Handful of Shit

Hmm, what to fill in the top part of this chapter? Uhh, wow, I'm at a complete loss. In fact, I wouldn't even do this if it weren't for the fact that it wouldn't feel right otherwise. Oh, wait! No, never mind. I thought I had something. Oh well, I've wasted enough of your time. Proceed.

/////

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Kon. Yeah, sorry I didn't include the usual type of disclaimer, but I'm just not feeling it. Adventures of Acolyte will pick up again next chapter.

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Chapter 8: The Fan and a Handful of Shit

When the alarm clock went off that morning for Naruto, he just knew that it was going to be a shitty day. First off, he practically threw a hidden kunai right threw the door when he heard a sudden noise awake him. Though he felt stupid, he took care to survey the whole room with a critical eye at least three times, just for anything that seemed _slightly_ out of place.

When he felt a little more confident that he had been the only one in the place of at least several months, he went to the bathroom, taking care to touch only that which was most necessary to complete his morning tasks. Even then, he had second thought when he touched a knob or faucet. As he took a shower, he didn't dare wash his hair or even blink, just in case he happened to find someone when his eyes reopened.

With that done, he changed into a clean school uniform and picked up a bag full of his things, ready for school. On his way out the door, he pried the kunai from the door and slipped it into his pocket, just in case. As he walked down the path, he fingered it, finding comfort in the cool feel of the metal and the sharpened and honed edge.

With a grimace on his face, he tried to block out everything and just focus just on breathing, trying not to stab the poor fucker who may have startled him by walking past him without warning. He tried to keep calm. However, when someone said his name and clasped a hand onto his shoulder, he nearly lost it then and there.

He flung himself around and jumped back out of the person's grasp, holding his hidden kunai by its blade and readying it in his pocket. He waited for the assailant to make another move before he decided whether or not to react violently, in that time, found out who it was.

Mizore stood in her place, arm still outstretched and hand placed where his shoulder was. She looked at him quizzically, tilting her head to the side, though Naruto could see the concern in the girl's lovely blue eyes. That sight just made him feel like shit more so than he already did. "Naruto-kun, are you feeling well. You seem… tense."

Taking a few deep breaths to calm his heart, which felt like a nuclear reactor in meltdown, he stood back to his full height and took his hand off of the hidden knife. His dilated pupils slowly contracted to normal size as he regarded his best friend there. He was panting slightly from the recent shock to his system as he responded, trying to regain his composure. "Oh, Mizore-chan. Sorry, you just… startled me is all. I've been kind of on edge since Amami-sensei showed up." The blonde used air quotes as he referred to Konjyoyaki's alias.

"Naruto-kun, I can understand that you may not trust him, and that you probably have a lot of history with him, most of it bad, but you can't keep acting like this. Look at you, you're a nervous wreak. This thing is killing you." He could hear the desperation in the girl's voice, and while he did consider what she said, he just couldn't agree with her.

"I'm sorry, Mizore-chan. I know you're trying to, but you just can't understand what he's really like. He's dangerous, sneaky, smart, and loyal to the point that it's scary, since you don't know who he's working for. I can't trust a man who took his own niece hostage just to remain loyal to someone helping him accomplish his goal."

Naruto took a deep sigh. He still couldn't believe how crazy the man seemed at times. And now, he was stuck with him by some means of cosmic misfortune. Mizore, to her credit, was shocked that such a seemingly mild-mannered and polite man was capable of such things, despite what she was told thus far. She really wouldn't believe it until she saw it herself, she supposed.

She shook her head and spoke around her mint lollipop. "Come on, at this rate we will be late for class. We can talk more later."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I just wish I didn't have first period _and_ homeroom with that fuckhead psycho." With another deep sigh, Naruto decided to finger his rosary a bit and took point. "Well, let's get it over with." With a quick nod from Mizore, the duo made their way to class.

/////

First period that day was a quiet affair. It was only his second day, and Konjyoyaki already commanded the hearts and minds of most everyone in that classroom. With his imposing height and evil goatee, everyone thought twice before questioning his authority. Yes, facial hair was defiantly a powerful weapon, just look at what Hitler accomplished.

The man's evil mustache/beard combo aside, the man was actually rather brilliant. Hell, he had somehow managed to get the kids struggling in class to grasp what he was talking about, a feat that probably secured his position in the faculty. Bad news for Naruto.

The rest of the classes went by as usual, though the blonde was still rather jumpy. Whenever someone would call on him to answer a question he would have his hand twitch towards where his kunai was hidden. He would then realize there was no danger and answer the question. By lunch, the secret shinobi felt like shit.

The mentally exhausted Naruto decided to just take a seat and skip out on eating today. He just couldn't deal with the stress of thinking that Konjyoyaki may have somehow poisoned his food. He probably wouldn't have eaten it anyway.

Closing his eyes, he tenderly reached up and began to gently massage his temples, hoping to fend off the headache he had from over thinking. After a few minutes of trying and failing, he wearily opened his eyes to see Mizore sitting across from him, eyeing him with a questioning gaze. "You okay?" she asked.

"I'll live. It's just a headache." He smirked a bit at the inside joke.

"You sure? This could be a side effect of that transformation you had."

Naruto was about to retort when he suddenly realized something. _'Wait a second. Wasn't Kyuubi supposed to find out what caused that? He should have reported by now.'_

Seeing that her best friend was having a revelation, Mizore decided to prod him further. "What is it, Naruto-kun? It looks like you just figured something out."

"It could be nothing. Listen, I need to check something out in my head, so I'll be meditating. Wake me up if the bell rings or something happens." With a nod from the purple haired girl, he closed his eyes and focused on tuning everything out.

Slowly, sounds started to distort, and time felt like it was slowly crawling by. The blonde didn't notice any of this, though. He kept his eyes firmly shut and his mind set on the goal of reaching himself. He only stopped when he heard a distinctive drip that seemed to echo throughout space.

Naruto didn't even have to look as he walked by the stalagmites and ducked under stalactites in his cave-like mindscape. He did stop, though, to admire the stack of bodies in a hollowed out cell of the cave. Everyone he had ever killed, in Jashin's name or otherwise. "Hmm, I could have sworn I killed more fuckers than that." Shrugging his shoulders, he continued on to the reason he was there.

Soon, he was in front of the giant gate of carved bone, pristine and shining like the purest ivory. As he looked into the darkness beyond, he could make out the kitsune. He seemed to be meditating. As if on queue, his enormous red eyes shot open. **"What are you doing here?"**

"I want to know why you haven't given me a repot yet." Naruto's voice was uncharacteristically cold. Kyuubi's eyes widened as he noticed this.

"**Excuse me?"**

"Sorry, it's just this headache I've been having lately. It's making me irritable," Naruto explained as he shook his head. His voice was back to normal. "So, what did you find?"

Letting out a great sigh, the Bijuu eyed his host, wondering how to put this. **"After several complete scans of both your mind and body, I'm sad to say that the results are inconclusive. In other words, there is nothing wrong with you."**

"That can't be right. You… you must have missed something. There needs to be something to explain what happened." Kyuubi shook his head.

"**I know, but I can't explain it. Right now, the best thing to do is forget about it." **he didn't give Naruto a chance to rebuttal, as he forced the blonde out of his own mind. On the outside, Naruto swore and held his head in pain.

"Fuck."

"You okay?" asked Mizore, now at his side.

"I guess you could put it that way."

"Well, what did you find out?"

Naruto regarded the girl with a bit of a sad look on his face. He quickly hid it. "Nothing. Apparently nothing's wrong."

"But that doesn't make any sense."

"I know." Before he had a chance to continue, another presence made itself known.

"Naruto-san, Mizore-san." Both turned around to see Zetsu standing there, looking as emotionless as ever.

"Zetsu, how long have you been there?" asked Naruto.

"Long enough. Look, I wanted to apologize."

"For what?" Naruto was confused. As far as he knew, the plant-like shinobi in disguise had never done anything to him.

"For not telling you who I really was earlier. I hope that we can still be friends."

"Of course. You never did anything wrong." Zetsu gave a small bow.

"Thank you, Naruto-san. That being said, I think you can trust Konjyoyaki-san."

"What are you trying to pull, Zetsu?" bow he was suspicious. Anything that involved the man did.

"I am not trying to pull anything. I'm just stating that, for now, Konjyoyaki is reliable. True, he is patient when it comes to getting what he wants, but I currently sense no ill intent from him."

Naruto eyed the bi-coloured man, wondering if this was real. Finally, he stood up and began to walk away, Mizore looking at Zetsu before following the blonde. "I'll think about it. No promises." With that, they were gone.

"I don't see why you couldn't have just used a henge and done that yourself," said Zetsu, apparently to himself.

"Too risky. Besides, I never was good with conventional jutsu. My chakra just doesn't form that way to get a proper result." From out of the shadows came Konjyoyaki in all of his bearded glory. "Keep an eye on them. I feel like someone is watching their little group, and I'm going to find out who." With that, he was gone with just a slight distortion of air. Zetsu followed his lead, melding into the ground.

/////

Club that day was rather sedated, and for that, Naruto was grateful. However, there were some problems for him in the setup. For one, both Mizore and Zetsu had been charged with photography duties, meaning he couldn't really converse with them much. Then again, right now he didn't really feel like talking. Yukari had also gone with them.

Kurumu, Tsukune, and Moka were writing articles of varying subjects, as they normally did, apparently, and when they got the pictures, would work with the photographers to make an interesting story. That's where he came in.

For whatever reason, he had been tasked with being vice editor for the whole fucking paper. In other words, he was the scapegoat the real club head would use so he could laze about and then tell Naruto that his work was utter crap and to redo it. Currently, he was working on the sixth revision of Tsukune's article that day.

Morioka Ginei, or Gin for short, was truly a despicable man, and a pervert from what his club mates had told him. Really, how was he supposed to make something about the quality of the restrooms at Youkai Academy interesting while keeping with the facts?!? It was madness! Of course, when he brought that up with Gin, the taller, black-haired man had stood up from his desk and walked Naruto into a window. What happened next would make Naruto realize why nobody else questioned the pervert's rule.

"Madness?" questioned Gin, a mixed look of shock, rage, and outright disgust on his face. Naruto began to sweat a bit and held his hands up for their meager defensive capabilities. All work ceased as everyone in the classroom turned to witness the spectacle. "THIS… IS… THE YOUKAI SHINBUN CLUBROOM!!!" and with a mighty kick, Naruto was sent flying out the window, forced to fall several stories.

"Umm, Gin-senpai, wasn't that a little much?" asked Tsukune from his spot at the computer. Moka and Kurumu had moved to the window to see the fallen Uzumaki.

"You think he's alright?" asked Moka.

"Probably. If not, at least we might get a new club president," answered Kurumu, the thought of getting rid of Gin making her hope that bodily harm had befallen Naruto.

"Well… I… that is to say…" Gin rubbed the back of his head, looking for an answer that could explain his actions. "You know what, get back to work or you're next." With that, everyone got back to work as Gin propped his feet up on his desk and took a nap. However, as soon as he was snoring, they snuck out to retrieve Naruto.

Back on the ground level of Youkai Academy, Naruto was picking glass out of various wounds on his body. "Fucking psychopath, kicking fucking people out of a giant goddamned window on the fucking third floor. Fucking retard." As the blonde grumbled to himself, he failed to notice the other presence near him.

As he stood up, Naruto heard a voice call out to him. "My, my, my, you certainly are the interesting person, aren't you, Uzumaki Naruto?" said blonde looked up to see another, though smaller, blonde sitting on a small stonewall. Naruto couldn't see much of the person, as they appeared quite engrossed in a small, black book, though from the voice, Naruto decided that they were male.

"Who the fuck are you?" was Naruto's charming and ever eloquent response, edginess forgotten after his short freefall. The other boy snapped the book shut and hid it in his blazer. He then jumped down off the small wall, giving Naruto a better view of him. He was about four inches shorter and had a young face. But what really captured his attention were his eyes. Both had elongated slits for pupils, though the one on the right was positioned horizontally, as opposed to its vertical twin.

The boy gave a small boy and introduced himself. "How rude. Allow me to introduce myself. You may call me Yoshii Kiria, and I am the leader of a little organization called Anti-Thesis."

There was a small, awkward pause as Naruto regarded the kid with curiosity. "Who?" asked Naruto, tilting his head to the side a bit.

"You've never heard of Anti-Thesis?" Naruto shook his head. "Oh, well, we are an organization composed entirely of hybrid monsters. Our goals are simple. The eradication of purebred superiority."

"Okay, so why are you talking to me? How the hell do you know me, anyway?"

"Well, I have determined that your skills could be quite beneficial for my organization. Plus, you just naturally seem to liven things up. As to how I know you, I find that information quite inconsequential."

"Inconsequential my ass!" growled Naruto. Kiria just laughed. Calming down, Naruto decided to probe the bigger question. "What do you mean by skills, anyway?" behind his back, Naruto made a hand seal and silently created a kage bunshin in the tree behind him to his right. With a mental command, he had the clone ready a kunai as he readied his own hidden one. While Naruto tried not to use jutsu at the school, as people would question him if they noticed, he decided that he would risk it in this situation.

"Well, for one, that clone you just made is interesting. It appears to be solid, if I'm not mistaken." Naruto tensed. With a command, the clone threw its kunai and charged Kiria. The boy sidestepped the throwing knife and gave a good punch, dispelling the clone. The real Naruto broke through the haze of smoke and leapt for the smaller blond. Before he knew it, his face was in the dirt. "You also seem to know how to fight. Also…" Naruto began to get up, until he felt a blade pierce his heart and he once again fell to the ground. He flipped himself over and gazed at Kiria. "You are extremely hard to kill. I just pierced your heart, yet you're still alive."

"Fuck you," Naruto spit out as Kyuubi worked on healing him. Before Kiria's eyes, Naruto got up from a blow that would have killed anyone else.

"Very impressive indeed." With that, Kiria began to stalk away. "I'll contact you again. Also, you'll keep quiet about this incident. If you don't, I'll be forced to do something unpleasant." The gleam in his eyes told Naruto that he probably didn't want to piss the blonde off. So, Naruto begrudgingly staggered back to the clubroom. He had to finish editing Tsukune's article, after all.

Naruto would later attribute the bloodstain from the fall. For the rest of that day, no one would see Tsukune, Moka, or Kurumu. It wouldn't be until the next day that Naruto would discover that Tsukune got into a fight with someone from the wrestling club. Apparently, the guy thought it was Tsukune that took out Kuyou. Yes, the world just seemed like it was out to piss Naruto off.

/////

Yeah, it's a bit short, but I just haven't been feeling well for the past week. Don't worry; this isn't a trend I'm looking to repeat. This chapter was mostly filler anyway.

Why has Kiria approached Naruto? What does Anti-Thesis want with him. Will Naruto ever find out what happened to him that caused him to go into a blood lust? Well, these questions will eventually be answered, just probably not next chapter. Okay, well, see ya later. This chapter was only 3,181 words long. Fuck.


	9. Unwilling Involvement

Hey there. So, I've noticed that more people have recently abandoned their Naruto fics because "The manga isn't as good as it used to be." And "Lacks Naruto screen time." Okay, I'll agree with the latter, it has been focusing more on other characters for a time now, but I believe it is important for us to know how other characters are dealing with the situation and to solidify their role. As for the former complaint, that's complete and utter bullshit. Hell, the plot alone is one of the better ones I've seen in my life, especially with the recent twists. I won't criticize the authors who abandoned their stories for these reasons, but they do make me disappointed.

/////

Disclaimer: "Sorry folks. Acolyte is currently in a coma, and, thus, could not star in this weeks disclaimer."

"The fuck you talking about? I'm right here." out of nowhere, Acolyte is hit in the head with a shovel. "Ow! What the fuck?!? That hurt, retard!" he is again hit with the shovel, in the face this time, and is knocked unconscious.

"Umm, as I was saying, he wants you to know that he doesn't own any copyrighted material. Yeah, just drag him over there. Don't worry. He'll be fine. Ohh, are we still rolling? Well, turn the fucking thing off." The screen suddenly goes black.

/////

Chapter 9: Forced Involvement

In a dark, foreboding hallway, there was a door. The door itself was nothing special, you know; quite the standard for any evil mastermind out there. It was of a rich brown mahogany wood with an iron loop for a handle. It also had metal bindings on it, as to give it some weight. In short, it was a very, very evil door.

Okay, the door itself wasn't evil, but the person behind it was. Or, at least, he was influenced by it.

Either way, back to the hallway. It was long; so much so, that from the 'evil' door, you could see nothing but shadows and small pinpoints of light. Then again, the lighting wasn't that spectacular to begin with. The cheap lighting consisted of a lantern right above the door and two dim torches on the walls, spaced apart 30 feet from each other. This caused the shadows to dance every which way, giving the hall that evil lair feeling.

The walls were of smooth sheetrock, unblemished as far as anyone could see in the poor light. It was clean as well, free of any dust that may have settled on it. The floor was in the same condition, though it did have a nice, expensive looking oriental rug on it. It was kind of out of place if one were to think about it in the grand scheme of things, really.

If that didn't solidify the doomed feeling, Rick Astley's "Never Gonna' Give You Up" could be heard plating in the background nonstop.

A short blonde dressed in the school uniform was humming along to the mind numbing, catchy tune, despite its repetitiveness. Yes, it seemed that the song that played in the elevator to hell had little to no effect on one Yoshii Kiria. The self-proclaimed leader of Anti-Thesis was walking down the impossibly long and imposing hallway of doom, a slight spring in his step, engrossed in his little book, which in itself was a surprise that he could read due to the conditions.

He finally reached the heavy door and gave three quick, light taps on the door, the sound resounding above the music. It was a bit odd, seeing as one would assume this to be the door to his office. So why would he have to knock? He didn't wait for a response, as he promptly barged in, pulling the heavy door open with ease as it glided over the rug, if only barely.

Still focusing his attention on his book, he walked into the room and let the door swing shut behind him. The office itself was not much better in terms of light. There was a small florescent light overhead, giving pale light to the side of the room with the door.

One would be able to make out the light oak desk in front of them stacked with various papers along with a cozy looking chair. The would also be able to see the form of a tall-backed chair turned away from them with the top of someone's head barely peeking out above it. The rest of the room was rather sparten.

Kiria took a seat in the chair and leaned back in it, placing his feet up on the desk. With a deep sigh of relaxation, he finally stowed the book in his coat. He regarded the chair as it turned. When it finished, it was still impossible to make out any distinguishing features of the man.

"So, Kiria, tell me. What have you determined about Uzumaki-san?" asked the voice of the figure. It was clearly masculine in nature and at the same time, soft and almost melodious. It was easy on the ears, like a monastic choir, or a mellow rock song.

"It seems what you told me about him was true in terms of his abilities. He is indeed an interesting individual, almost as much as you. I offered him a hand to our organization, which he denied. You never told me, way go out of your way to recruit this one person. Sure, he is talented, but there are better individuals."

The figure leaned forward and placed his elbows on the desk, folding his hands and resting his chin atop them. Despite all this, the shadows seemed to move with him, continuing to obscure his visage. "Hmm, the fact that he denied is frustrating. As for why I want him… well, that wasn't my call. It's _him_ that wants Uzumaki-san. I don't know why."

There was silence for a moment, the only sound being that of the light's soft hum. It was Kiria who broke the tense serenity. "Are you sure it was even a good idea to let _him_ have a hand in this?"

"If what he says is true, it may have been the best decision I've ever made. And so far, he's held up on his end of the bargain. He has already eliminated several impediments without laying a hand on them. Right now, we have to trust him."

"So, what now?"

"Get Uzumaki-san to join our cause in some form. I would suggest using… collateral." The way the man said 'collateral' would have sent shivers up the spin of any mortal. It just caused Kiria to grin.

"That's why I like about you. Consider it done." With that, the blonde lifted himself out of the chair and approached the door, once again pulling out his treasured book.

"Ohh, and Kiria?" the voice stopped him right as he was opening the door. He kept his eyes on his book as the voice continued. "Tell whomever is playing that obnoxious song to stop or I'll deal with them personally."

With a small but good-natured sigh, Kiria spoke. "If you say so. Though I don't see why you hate it so much. It is very catchy." With that, he left, the door once again closing behind him. He then continued on down the hall, humming the song that annoyed his boss so.

/////

The subject of Kiria and his companion's conversation was currently sitting in first period. Normally, he would have been dozing off, daydreaming, or even silently drumming a pencil on his desk as he watched the clock due to the lecture that was presently going on.

As it turned out, he had done none of this since before summer break. Instead, the entirety of his attention was focused on his teacher as he droned on and on, regarding seemingly the whole room with his critical, hawk-like gaze.

Naruto focused on Konjyoyaki with his own critical gaze, ears catching everything he said, not out of interest, but of self-assured necessity. In his mind, he was ready for any move the man might try to pull, and, though he doubted that he would try to pull anything in class, the blonde was on high alert.

Now, common sense would tell someone to approach the chairman and either ask for the man to be fired or to have themselves be transferred to another homeroom. Naruto had thought of this, and had quickly dismissed them as options. He didn't trust the chairman enough to ask him for anything, and he doubted he could get the man fired. And, even if he got a room change, Konjyoyaki was the only available science teacher for his grade. Besides, he didn't trust the man alone with Mizore. So, the blonde's only logical option was to observe.

Despite their friendship, Zetsu's vouch didn't carry much weight for Naruto. First off, the man used to work with the object of his ire, and, even if he didn't want it to be that way, Konjyoyaki may still have a grasp on the man and was just using him. Then there was the fact that Naruto wasn't just about to let go of the past.

It was then Mizore telling him to give the man a chance. That was a bit more understandable, as she didn't know firsthand what the man was truly like. What really caught his attention was when near the end of the day, Kyuubi finally spoke on the matter.

'_**I think you need to trust him for now.'**_

'_No, not you to! Don't let yourself get caught up in his lies!' _Naruto desperately told him. Kyuubi, ever since he was four, had been there for Naruto. Through good times and bad, the Bijuu had only abandoned him once, and even Naruto agreed that he deserved it. But, this was too much.

'_**Listen to me! The yuki-onna was right! You're blowing this whole issue out of fucking proportion! Anyone can pass through a portal; they don't have to forcibly rip it open like you! You're just using the belief of the exact opposite as ammunition for your bullshit!'**_ Kyuubi's voice was full of discontent for the blonde as he spoke with a bottled up rage for his recent, stupid actions. It was then that his voice softened a bit as he realized that he had been a bit harsh in getting his point across. He liked Naruto, he really did, his voice kept him company in his cage, and it just irked him when he was being a dumbass like he was now. _**'This paranoia, it's eating you alive. The man is here by an unfortunate coincidence. And, truthfully, he arrived in this world before you did.'**_

Naruto was quiet for a moment as he mused over what was said. _'Then why is he here, at the school?'_

'I don't know. Listen; if he did have a scheme or whatnot, it would involve turning everyone against you, like you're doing yourself. Right now, everyone is thinking you're crazy.'

'_So what do I do then, huh?!? What the fuck do you want me to do?!?'_

Kyuubi's smirk could be heard in his voice. _**'You trust him. You ruin his so-called plan by doing what others are. You get them on your side. And then, if you work it correctly, you can use him.' **_Naruto's eyes widened and he stopped cold as he heard this. And, then, he too grinned.

'_So I just have to act like I trust him, right?'_

'No, he would see through that and be on guard. You have to mean it, just like the apology you give him for acting this way.'

Naruto gave a deep sigh and swore under his breath, resenting the thought of actually trusting the man to any degree. But, seeing as it was for the best, Naruto swallowed his pride and stepped up to the plate. _'Guess there aren't too many options, are there? I'll do it.'_

'You made the right choice, Naruto. Now, make both me and Jashin-sama proud.'

Naruto brightened up even more at this and even grinned a bit. _'Thank you, Kyuubi, for being there when it always mattered. When I'm in despair, you show me the light. And, I'm sorry for landing us here in the first place, even if I am kind of glad about it.'_

'Don't mention it.'

/////

The classroom was all but desolate when Naruto arrived there to speak to Konjyoyaki. The heavily wounded man was seated at his desk looking over various papers and smoking like a freight train, seemingly unaware of Naruto's presence. The blonde knew better than to believe that, though.

Deciding to take his time, and delay the inevitable, Naruto began to observe the room. For probably the first time since he had been accepted to the school (the reason of which he still didn't know), he took in all of the its being.

It was bland; white walls, bare of any sort of decoration, some bright, but not harsh, florescent lights, a few cabinets on the far wall adorned with locks so no one without the key could get in. the cabinets were full of test tubes and chemicals for the rare occasion when Konjyoyaki, or even when Yakasu used to, give demonstrations of how various substances reacted with each other.

In the middle of examining the room, Naruto noticed that it was colder than the others. It wasn't by more than ten degrees or so, but it was there. The blonde guessed that it was to help store the chemicals. But, if that was the case, then why didn't this room seem colder when Yakasu was around?

Speaking of the differences between the room now and before, there was another difference that Naruto couldn't place his mental finger on. It was almost like something in the air, like the atmosphere here was crisp, had more clarity somehow. It seemed as if Naruto was able to focus easier here.

This room was… peaceful, Naruto realized, shocked that he hadn't noticed it before. Either those weeks in a cell had done more to him than he thought, that damn transformation had fucked with him too much, or… maybe he had just been to tense before to notice the detail. Naruto sort of understood why kids were doing better now, and it really was thanks to Konjyoyaki, just not how he guessed it was.

With this discovery, Naruto's conviction to abandon his paranoid thoughts grew stronger, as he firmed his resolve to do what he was here for.

Almost as if he could sense his thoughts, Konjyoyaki finally acknowledged the blonde's presence in his room. He spoke without taking his good eye off of the work he was currently engrossed in. "Do you need something, Uzumaki-san, or do you just enjoy standing in door ways now? A new hobby you picked up since I've seen you last, perhaps. You've been standing in that one spot for about eight minute now."

The rugged brunette's deep yet soft voice successfully broke Naruto from his reverie. The blonde slightly shook his to clear his head a bit, tossing around his spiky blonde tresses, and entered further into the room. He stopped once he stood directly in front of the desk. As he cleared his throat, Konjyoyaki still did not look up, nor did he halt his hand from writing.

This didn't bother Naruto, as he expected nothing less from the man, and he spoke. "You see, the thing is… well, I came here to… what I'm trying to say is…" Naruto soon found he wasn't so sure this was a good idea anymore, and his strength was leaving him. He just couldn't find the words. To him, a simple sorry wasn't going to cut. It. but, that's all he had. Konjyoyaki seemed unperturbed by his hesitation, not missing a beat in his writing, unmoving in his expression. Finally, Naruto decided to just say it. "I'm sorry."

That was it. Complete silence. Those words were strong enough to make even Konjyoyaki stop writing, his pen frozen in mid stroke. The man slowly placed the writing utensil down and rested his one arm on the desk. He slowly rose his head so his one dark orange eye met both of Naruto's ocean blue ones, shimmering with honesty.

"I didn't trust you and have been hostile towards you ever since you arrived, despite the fact that you have yet to try anything. I am sorry." As the blonde finished, Konjyoyaki closed his eye, took a deep breath, and slowly released it. He then stood from his chair, rising to his full height, and in a few quick strides was by the window.

He took the cigarette, now more of a filter than anything, out of his mouth and flicked it over his shoulder into the waste bin by his desk, which was full of used cigarettes, all smoked to the filter. He didn't light another one, though. Instead, with his back turned to Naruto, he spoke.

"I don't accept." Before the blonde had a chance to protest, the man held up his hand, indicating he wanted to continue. "I refuse to accept your apology because it is not necessary. You were rightful in your hostile attitude, for I cannot recall a time were I have given you reason to trust me. I know it is hard for you, but please have some faith in me when I say I mean you and your friends no harm. In fact, I'm sorry I made you so paranoid."

Naruto regarded the man in front of him with wide eyes. He had never expected this of the man, and, as such, was speechless. Finally, he conjured up the resolve to say something. "I… thank you, Konjyoyaki."

"Your welcome, Naruto-san. That's more than I could have asked for. If that's all, you may go." Naruto turned his back and was about to leave as Konjyoyaki lit up another smoke, but was stopped by his voice. "Ohh, and Naruto-san?"

"Yeah?" Naruto asked, turning around.

"Please call me Kon from now on. I'll see you in class tomarrow. Now go. No doubt you're late for your club."

Naruto grinned. That had gone better than expected. He had a weight lifted off his shoulders and had found a bit of trust in someone he never expected to. With a chuckle, Naruto said one last thing before left the room. "You got it, Kon-sensei! I'll see you tomarrow!"

Unbeknownst to the blonde, what he couldn't see was that Konjyoyaki had a grin of his own plastered onto his usually expressionless face. Though, this grin was more of a smirk, filled with ambivalence and a cruelty, his eye shining with coldness. There was also a tint of sadness for some reason. "All too easy," was all he muttered to himself as he shook his head slowly from side to side, trying to rid himself of the evidence of his sick amusement. He then went back to gazing out the window.

/////

All the members of the newspaper club were in their room. Even the designated photographers were here, having already taken all the pictures needed to post the next issue of the papers. As such, they were just writing the articles to go with them. Yes, everyone was there. Everyone but Naruto.

"Hey, where's my deputy editor?!?" yelled Gin. The headband wearing club head was currently irate due to the fact that it was him that had to read each of the articles first hand. Being met with silence and shrugs only elicited an aggravated sigh from him. Unknown to everyone else, it also caused a certain purple-haired yuki onna to worry about her best friend's fate.

Mizore knew for a fact that the blonde could get himself out of most trouble that he encountered. She also knew even he had his limits. It was strange. Normally, she wouldn't care, but Naruto really was her first real friend, even if he became such after only a short time. She cared for the blonde. Sure, she cared for everyone in the room, seeing them all as her friends, but Naruto was special. There was just something about his very nature that drew her in. It also worried her with the way her friend had been acting.

He was being… paranoid was the only way she could describe it, and she knew the others noticed. But, she didn't know what to do. She knew the source of the problem and had talked to him about it. However, the blonde seemed dead set to prove that Konjyoyaki wasn't the man he made other people believe he was.

Suddenly, her worries seemed to be cast away as the door to the room opened. The sound drew her gaze, and it remained there as she spied the individual who stood at the doorway. It was a rather pissed Gin who greeted the person.

"And just where the fuck where you?!? Do you know what kind of stress you put us through?!?"

"The same that I've gone through everyday since you've assigned me my position?" asked Naruto. Gin opened his mouth to retort, only to close it when he couldn't think of anything to say. He did this a couple more times, doing a rather good job of imitating a fish, before he finally gave up.

"Just… just get to work," said Gin, feeling utterly defeated as he once again took a seat at his desk. Naruto flashed Mizore a small grin as he took a seat at his desk. For the yuki onna, her heart seemed to flutter in her chest. That was the Naruto she knew. It was her friend. He was seemingly back to the way he was when she first befriended him. She knew that she would have to talk to him later, but, for now, she was content to allow a smile form around her lollipop.

Someone noticed this action. Well, several people, to be precise, and they called her on it. "Ahh, isn't that sweet? Mizore-chan has a crush." The purple-haired girl's smile vanished as she turned her head towards the direction of the sugarcoated voice. Much to her inner fear, it was Kurumu, with Moka and Yukari right next to her.

The young witch was the next to speak. "Yeah! Mizore-san likes a bad boy! Desu! Granted, he's not as good as Tsukune-kun, but he's still better than Gin-senpai." Mizore started to blush at this point and quickly tried to deny everything.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about. And keep it down." Yes, it was miraculous that the males in he room were seemingly oblivious to the commotion currently going on. However, it was apparent that if it kept up, they would notice.

"I think it's very sweet, Mizore-chan. Naruto-kun really does seem like a nice guy." Yeah, it was obvious that the girls weren't going to stop anytime soon.

"No, you're wrong. I don't love Naruto-kun. We're just very good friends."

Kurumu just chuckled at the remark. "Come off it, Mizore-chan. We all saw the look you gave when he walked in. before that you were sad and stuff like that. Then you just seemed to brighten up when he entered."

" Well, that's…" she was cut off by Yukari as the young girl felt the need to express her opinion.

"Please stop with the denial. It's painfully obvious that you like him." the other two nodded in agreement.

Mizore swallowed a small lump in her throat. Was it really that noticeable? Did she really like Naruto as more than just a friend? It was all too much to take in, especially so soon after Naruto's mental recovery.

The yuki onna heaved a sigh. "Look, even if I did like him, it wouldn't work out. He's not the type for a committed relationship, especially after…" she cut herself off. She had almost inadvertently let out part of Naruto's past, something he had confided with her about. She wasn't about to tell everyone else. Luckily, the girls took Mizore's sudden stop and her look of shocked realization in that she was don talking.

As they were walking away, Moka had some parting words for her. "Did you at least think about asking him? In the end, he might surprise you and say yes." She watched the rosette's retreating back as she contemplated what was said. Would asking really prove her wrong? Would it turn out Naruto shared her feelings?

She quickly banished those thoughts. Right now, she had work to do. Besides, the boy had just returned to his normal self. The question could wait for later. But, could Mizore wait for the right time, would she have the nerve, and what would he say? All this ran through her head, even as she fell asleep in her bed that night, and for days to come.

/////

After a long day, Naruto finally got to go home. He was glad that he had some of the weight off his shoulders. He could now relax. He inserted his key into the door and unlocked it.

He stepped in and flicked the light switch, only to have his heart nearly stop at who he saw. "Welcome home, Naruto-kun." In front of him stood Kiria, sitting in a chair. Naruto just growled at his fellow blonde.

"What do you want?" Naruto began to survey his surroundings, both looking for any traps the smaller boy may have laid and for anything he could use to attack him with. He contemplated using a clone, seeing as this person already knew about his jutsu, but if it somehow got out that he could create copies of himself, it would just lead to unwanted questions.

"You remember the proposal I made to you before, correct?" Naruto just nodded. "I was wondering if you had perhaps reconsidered. My organization could greatly benefit from your skills, as you could from us. Please, take a seat so we can discuss this in greater detail."

"I'll stand. Now, let me get this straight. You broke into my dorm so you could once again offer me some position in a shadow organization that I still don't know really anything about so I can help you achieve some obscene goal that doesn't mean diddly shit to me. Is that pretty much correct?"

"Yeah, that sums it up rather nicely," answered Kiria in a deadpan. "Would you like to know more about our organization to help sway your opinion of us?"

"Oh, well, when you put it that wa- No I don't want to know more! I want you out of here!"

"So I take it you have no interest in joining?" asked Kiria in the same tone of voice he had used throughout the conversation. The look on Naruto's face said it all. With a sigh, Kiria rose from his chair. "I really hoped it wouldn't have to come to this," he said as he snapped his fingers.

From out of pretty much nowhere came… something. It was basically a giant eyeball a spider-like legs with a grinning mouth of sharp teeth. "What is that thing?" Naruto asked with a bit of shock and disgust.

"Why, this is a shikigami. Now, watch what it can do." With another snap, the shikigami stood straight up and looked at the wall. Naruto followed its gaze and saw a projection on the wall. He watched as he saw Mizore enter her own dorm and begin doing homework.

"What is this Naruto asked in an enraged, hushed whisper. Kiria laughed.

"You see, Naruto-kun, a shikigami can show a live feed of what is going on where its partner is. What you are seeing now is your best friend, isn't it. We'll be keeping tabs on her, perhaps even injure her if it come to it. However, if you decide to help us, all attention will be kept on you. What do you say?"

Naruto clenched his fist until his knuckles threatened to burst from his hand and deep gashes formed in his palms. After a bit of growling, and seeing no other alternative, Naruto bowed his head, letting his hair cover his eyes.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked in a defeated voice.

"I knew you could come around," Kiria, in his good-natured voice, said. He walked to the door as he continued, brushing right past the blonde. "You will be giving us information on specific targets. Consider yourself a double agent. I'll tell you when your first assignment is later. Until then." With that, he was gone.

For the rest of the night, Naruto would be out in the woods, attempting to bring dead trees down with his bloody hands, trying to relieve himself of his rage.

/////

And there you have it. Sorry for the lateness, but there's a reason for it, I assure you. You see, my fellow author, Charlie Sierra, recently stopped writing anime fanfiction. So, in the spur of the moment, I decided to adopt one of them. So, I've been thinking of ideas so I can update it. Hopefully, that time will soon pay off.

As soon as Naruto finds a solution, another problem seems to take its place. How will Naruto fair working for Anti-Thesis? Stay tuned. Now, for a rant. If you don't like spoilers, go away now.

So, recently in the Naruto manga, Kabuto has reveled him self to Madara and has used Edo Tensei to resurrect all of the dead Akatsuki, so the organization has all of its old members except for Konan and one other individual. My question is, where the fuck is Hidan? I mean, you can use chakra to resurrect the dead, but can't be bothered to dig a hole? What the fuck? I mean, the dudes immortal. That must have some merit. Then again, I guess I shouldn't get ahead of myself. In the end, Hidan may come back. I hope so. This has been a rant by yours truly. This chapter was 5,011 words long!


	10. More Stress

So, you're actually here? That's nice. Wish I had more to say, but I don't. Yeah, this is still a bit out of schedule, but I figure an update every two weeks is good enough. Schoolwork has been hot on my ass ever since the end of February, so I figure I should spend more time beating the shit out of that. Hopefully, that issue will soon clear up. Well, let's go on.

/////

Disclaimer: Acolyte opened his eyes, a bit dazed. He didn't quite know where he was or what happened. An unexpected voice next to him startled him. "Finally up, huh?" he turned his head to the side to see, who else, Mike.

Now, it may have been because Acolyte hadn't seen him in a while, but mike seemed more… energetic. Happier in general, maybe, was a better way to describe it. He hadn't seen this since he first met Mike.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Say the disclaimer."

"Um, right," said Acolyte, still a bit out of it. "I don't own anything. Now, scroll the fuck down." Sure, it wasn't the best disclaimer, but right now, acolyte had to figure out what the hell was going on. He may not have remembered much, but he knew this wasn't right.

/////

Chapter 10: More Stress

"Uzumaki?" the voice rang through the quiet classroom, expecting a response. When it didn't get one after a few seconds, it became more annoyed. "Uzumaki?" once again, only silence rang throughout the classroom.

Hushed whispers soon prevailed against lack of response, as students began talking in voices filled with curiosity, wondering where the blonde could be. This caused a pang of worry to go through Mizore. Her friend had just gone back to being himself, and now he was missing. This wasn't good.

The yuki onna turned back in her chair to face her other friend in the room. The look she gave Zetsu was read easily enough. 'Have you seen Naruto?' the girl only received a shake of the head from the tall man in disguise, as well as a look from perplexity from him. That wasn't a good sign.

Zetsu usually betrayed no emotion, as if he knew everything going around on campus. Sure, the quality wasn't exactly endearing, but it was the way he was. However, if he wasn't acting like that, it meant that he, too, was worried. Something that caused Mizore's own anxiety levels to increase.

With a deep sigh, Konjyoyaki placed his attendance sheet down and ran his pale hand across his face. "Has anyone seen Uzumaki-san? If not, I suggest you quiet the fuck down." This was spoken in an uncaring tone that revealed absolutely nothing about what the man was thinking. All noise in the room quickly ceased. It was true, conventional, Konjyoyaki was not, but no student was about to question him. He was just too intimidating despite the fact that he was a cripple. "Well, if he's not here…" the statement was left hanging, as the man picked up a pen and brought it down to the paper.

Just as he was about to mark Naruto absent, the door opened. Who else would it be in the doorway but the blonde shinobi himself? Granted, he looked exhausted and totally out of it, with bloodshot eyes with deep bag under them, but he was there. He trudged his way to his seat, where he almost collapsed then and there. Sheer willpower and the knowledge that Kyuubi would soon awaken him fully had kept him from passing out thus far.

"Glad you decided to join us, Uzumaki. Now that that's taken care of, let's get on with today's lesson." As their sensei turned to his blackboard, Mizore regarded the jinchuuriki. In short, he looked like shit. That alone almost sent her into a depressed funk. The last time he acted like this was just a few days ago, because of Amami-sensei. But, she could tell that wasn't it.

No, it was something else. And that was causing him to act irrationally. However, so far all she had was speculations. For all she knew, he could have stayed up doing homework, as unlikely as it sounded. But the point stood that she couldn't just barge into his business. He would tell her eventually if it was really troubling him.

As for Naruto, he was constantly drifting in and out of sleep, despite the Bijuu helping with his fatigue. Apparently, Konjyoyaki was felling merciful and allowed it, though it was probably because almost no one else noticed it. He hadn't slept at all the previous night, being preoccupied taking his aggression out on the woods. He had felled no less than seven trees with only his knuckles, enraged at being forced into a corner.

And, of course, today was the day he would be given his assignment. Obviously that little bastard hadn't told him any details, like when to expect him, if he was supposed to meet him, who he was working with, if anyone, or any of the like. It only furthered to piss him of.

Then again, it caused him to think about the grand scheme of his situation. He had no experience in dealings like this, so he could be wrong, but wasn't it extremely rare for the leader of an organization like Anti-Thesis to present themselves to potential recruits? That's what talent scouts were for, after all. And Kiria had easily dealt with him, granted, he had precautions about going all out against anyone, so was he really needed?

This led him to come up with his own assumptions. First off, either Anti-Thesis was small and lacked scouts, or Kiria wasn't being entirely honest when he said he was the leader. Of course, there could just be the fact that Naruto himself was a special case.

That brought up the fact that he wasn't going to be the most talented person there. So, why was he needed, if not for his fighting skills? The only other purpose he may have had would be as some type of informant. But for what?

Naruto clenched his teeth and grasped his head in both aggravation and the pain from a migraine settling in, which the Kyuubi promptly fixed. The whole situation pissed him off to no end. He had no idea what was going on around him or what his part in it was. And everyone seemed to be taking sucker punches against him with the use of his friends.

His attention was taken off his problems, and in turn, he was stopped from unconsciously channeling Kyuubi's chakra when Konjyoyaki broke of his tirade to address the class a few minutes before class ended. "Now, branching away from science for a moment, I'm required to inform you that the Halloween Festival is closing in on us." At hearing this, many of the students shot up from their desks and began cheering, excitedly the prospect of this years festival. The excitement was short-lived, however, as Konjyoyaki unleashed some killer intent. He continued once the last student sat back down, a bit of annoyance in his voice. "Right, as I was saying, for the festival, each club, as well as each class is to have an attraction. The former will be discussed with you in your individual clubs, but for the latter, each club needs to select a representative for the committee to organize the event. In other words, I need for you to select who will act on the committee and act as class president for the rest of the year. Now who wants to nominate someone?"

For a moment, the whole class was silent, wondering if their sensei was finished talking. However, when no response came, the one-eyed man's aggravation rose and his cigarette began burning at an increasing pace. Seeing this, the students became more and more frightened. Finally, one brave soul spoke up, saving everyone from damnation.

"Um, I nominate Uzumaki-san. He is, hands down, one of the best performers, academic wise and in school in general."

At hearing this, Naruto yelled at the student, obviously not wanting to deal with responsibility of this as well as all the other shit going on around him at the moment. "Oh, what the fuck man! What did I ever do to you?!?" the blonde's protests went widely ignored, however, as almost all the other students in the room accepted Naruto as their president. Naruto would have killed the douche bag right then and there, if not for the outreaching consequences and the fact that his previous rage was momentarily forgotten, diminishing the potency of his hostility.

Konjyoyaki nodded his assent, calmer now that that was out of the way. "Good, looks like the decision is unanimous. Report to the student government's office first thing tomorrow."

"Wait a fucking second! Don't I get to decline the offer?!?" Naruto all but shouted, looking for anyway out of this situation that he could.

"No." that one, cold word was all it took to deflate Naruto's resistance, spoken with indifference from a man as cold as ice at times of annoyance. From behind the depressed and overtaxed, anxious blonde, Mizore felt pity for her friend, worried how this would affect him in his present state. Zetsu also felt a slight pang of regret, but it passed, being replaced with curiosity about how he managed to build up so much stress in his life. Konjyoyaki felt nothing for him, and watched as he trudged out of the room as the bell rang with the help of his two friends, a slight twitch forming a momentary smirk on his face.

/////

Through much of the day, Naruto remained depressed, attributed both to the fact of the recent increase of responsibility he really didn't need right now, and the fact that he had to sell his soul to Kiria and his cause. Of course, he was the one charged with informing Gin of his upcoming absence. He arrived before anyone else and had left promptly afterwards, citing that he was feeling sick. As expected, the older boy was filled with both contempt for losing his excuse to not do any work and his own depression for now being forced to actually do work.

So, it was a shock when the current bane of Naruto's existence didn't contact him that day. It caused the blonde to become relieved. In fact, he was almost looking foreword to the meeting the next day. Maybe he was dead. Then again, maybe he had just forgotten.

At that point, Naruto's mood once again began to sour. This was probably all part of Kiria's plan. Lure him into a false sense of security and then bring the bad news to him. Yeah, that's probably what the fucker was thinking.

He was startled when he heard some shouts. It almost sounded like a fight was going on. Now, Naruto had to weigh his decisions. On one hand, he really didn't want to get involved in some petty argument. On the other hand, kicking someone's ass may relieve some of the stress he was feeling. Plus there was the added benefit that if he was caught, he might not be allowed to serve on the committee. With those thoughts in mind, he went to go check it out.

He was a bit surprised at what he found. Apparently, Tsukune had gotten himself into another fight. Now, seeing that this happened on almost a daily basis nowadays, Naruto took it as a given. What did surprise him was whom he was fighting.

Apparently, that guy who was harassing Moka and him on the first day had come back for round two, and he had brought some help, even though it was just Tsukune to begin with. The kid was doing rather well dodging the blows, and even attempted to counter once or twice, but it was obvious that he was running out of stamina.

Just as one of the goons was about to kick Tsukune in the face, he got a boot to the head of his own, knocking him unconscious. All the other participants of the battle turned to regard the newcomer, and two of them were shocked.

"Naruto?!?" asked Tsukune, almost not believing it. The blonde just looked at him blankly.

"Now isn't this familiar? What did you do to piss this guy off this time, Tsukune?" in reality, Naruto only slightly cared, but it was kind of fun to see the brunette sputter indignantly for a few seconds. Meanwhile, the chitchat was pissing off the second party, especially the leader.

"I didn't do anything! That guy just hates me!" here, Tsukune pointed at the leader, who, at this point, was fed up with all the conversation going on during, what was supposed to be, a very serious fight.

"I have a name you know! And stop staling! I'm gonna' kick your ass sooner or later!"

"Oh, and what's you name?" Naruto asked sarcastically. He wasn't really expecting an answer. Maybe just an outraged yell, at the most. He did get an answer, though.

"Saizou. Remember that name as you beg for mercy. Now attack them you idiots!" the now named Saizou instructed his goons to attack the two man group of Naruto and Tsukune. As the three charged, they began to change.

One's hands started to morph, his fingers fusing together and forming almost swords. Another simply sprouted wings and took off into the air. The last one's body and head began to lengthen along with his arms and legs. Before the transformation finished, he disappeared into the ground. (1)

Naruto pushed Tsukune back as the one with the wings came in for an attack. He blocked the punch that was sent at him and attempted to kick the guy back, but he was to fast. His attention was soon occupied by the guy with blades for hands. He quickly ducked under the strike that was meant to take his head off, only losing a few hairs. He sent a punch into the guy's stomach, knocking the air out of him, followed by a vicious uppercut.

Naruto was about to push the assault as the guy stumbled back, only to be forced to jump back when the guy with wings spit… something at him. He jumped back, the green glob impacting the ground a few feet away from him with a sizzling sound.

He didn't expect a pair of arms to burst out of the ground just behind him and grab him, wrapping around his legs and binding his arms to his sides. Naruto watched as the guy with wings came in for another swoop, glee shining in his eyes. Just as he got there, Naruto barely managed to jump up and kick off the guy's chest, causing Naruto to do a back flip and sending the other into his own acid patch, he landed with a scream as he writhed in pain, the acid burning his flesh. Within seconds, he reverted back to his human form.

The jump had caused the arms around him to slacken a little, but at the most, he would only be able to bring his hands together. Naruto watched as sword-hands finally regained his bearings and went in for a final charge now that Naruto was incapacitated. Naruto frantically looked around, looking for something he could use to his advantage. As he looked, he found that Tsukune was preoccupied fending off the still human Saizou. The more he looked, the bleaker and more hopeless his chances seemed, and the less distance there was between him and a sure decapitation.

It was then he thought of something. Of course, with this plan, there would be some explaining to do. Some unwanted explaining. Then again, if he did not5hing, he would have to explain why he was still alive even though his head wasn't on his body. Yeah, the plan would work better. So, with much reluctance and a bit of effort, Naruto brought his hands together and formed the needed hand seals.

There was a puff of smoke just as the attacker got into slashing distance. He grinned as his hands went into something in the smoke cloud. That grin soon turned into a confused, followed quickly by a terrified expression. Instead of hitting the blonde like he intended, his hands were now trapped in a log. He turned his head, only to meet a punch to the throat.

He tried his hardest to take a breath, but, unfortunately for him, the punch had collapsed his throat he was soon dead. Naruto quickly created a few clones to deal with the last guy as he himself approached Saizou and Tsukune.

He had never liked jutsu in the first place. Yeah, he could see their use and they were good for surprises, so he learned a few, but he really never used them much. He was immortal. It would throw anyone off guard when a guy with a kunai in his head stabbed you in the face. Then there was the fact that he could kill anyone with just a drop of their blood.

He casually glanced back to see his clones had all turned black with white markings and were standing in Jashin's symbol. One by one, the stabbed themselves in a vital organ and disappeared. When they were done, a pair of lifeless arms were left sticking out of the ground.

As Naruto approached closer to the unsuspecting Saizou, he began to charge chakra in his hand, forming a swirling blue ball. Tsukune was caught by a backhand from the much bigger person. He was sent flailing to the ground as the other continued to approach him. He looked up to see Saizou's fist back, ready to deliver a devastating punch to him. "Any last words?" was all that he was asked.

He didn't get to say anything as something impacted with Saizou's back, causing him to lean back and let out an agonizing scream. He was then thrust forward, straight into a wall, causing it to crack. In his place was Naruto, blue wisps still circling him before they disappeared completely.

Naruto offered Tsukune a hand, which the brunette accepted without question. As he got up, they both heard a sound emanate from Saizou's general direction. Both turned to see the large boy trying to get back up, blood pouring from an ugly wound on his back. "Fuck, he still conscious?" Tsukune just looked at Naruto.

"What exactly did you do to him?"

Naruto fixed him with a speculative glance. "Does it matter? He was about to kill you." The brunette just scratched his cheek in embarrassment. With a sigh, Naruto began to approach the fallen enemy.

"What are you doing?"

"Making sure he stays unconscious for just a bit longer." With that, he quickly stomped the boy's head back into the ground with a 'squelch'. He had probably broken his nose.

"That was uncalled for! What are you thinking?" asked a shocked Tsukune, horrified by Naruto's violent action.

"What I'm thinking is I don't want him getting back up and attacking us. You don't leave loose ends, dumbass. Quite frankly, he's lucky I don't kill him right now." With a sigh and his annoyance subsiding, Naruto once again regarded the human with a clam gaze. "Come on, we should get going."

After a little reluctance and internal debate, he did follow, leaving the area swiftly to avoid detection. It was later that someone would discover three dead bodies and two unconscious individuals. They would leave the scene with Saizou and his lackey after setting fire to the dead bodies.

/////

Yeah, sorry for the shortness, but here seemed as good a place to stop as any. Also sorry for the delay. Apparently my bullshit powers are weakening and I actually need to do work. Yeah, life sucks.

(1). I really can't remember who attacked Tsukune with Saizou, or if he even had any help. I'm too busy to look it up, mostly because I can't remember what chapter it was.

Next time, Midou finally makes an appearance. Three chapters after I intended him to. I guess that just means I got better at adding detail. In other news, I updated Natural Biotic. Still haven't gotten around to do Rosario Kitsune, but I will do it within the week. Before April is over, at least. This chapter was only 3,411 words long!


	11. The Concept of Trust

Hey, I'm back! Take that news anyway you wish. So, here I am with an extra long chapter of Mistakes In Blood, my longest chapter yet for any of my stories by far. So, hooray for anyone who likes this story. And at the end, you'll find a rant about me complaining about some shit. Also, this chapter was beta'd by Lykaos, so thank him while you're at it.

/

Disclaimer: Due to the fact that I can't remember where I was with this, I'll cut this short and just say I don't own anything I write about.

/

Chapter 11: The Concept of Trust

"So…" began Tsukune, unsure how to start as both he and Naruto walked along a lonesome dirt path to the boy's dormitories. In the skies above the two, the last vestiges of the sun could be seen by the light purple and pink streaks in the clouds. The slightly shorter brunette traveled a few steps behind his taller blonde companion; the latter of the two sighing for what he knew was to come. "What exactly did you do to Saizou back there?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto answered wistfully, hoping that his… friend, yeah, that seems like an appropriate term, would let him leave it at that. Naruto really didn't want to deal with this right now, or ever, for that matter. Hell, if it were his choice, only Mizore would know about his past. But, as it was, two other people did know. As much as he liked Zetsu and tolerated Konjyoyaki, he did wish that they didn't know as much as they probably did.

However, Naruto's hopes would not be answered at the moment, as Tsukune did, in fact, push the issue, wanting to know about the, in his opinion, mysterious and slightly anti-social blonde that he considered as his friend. "Come on, you know what I'm talking about! That blue wispy thing you hit him with! What was that? Come to think of it, what are you exactly? You know what all our friends are, but no one knows about you."

Now, as Naruto was listening to this, he was wondering why Tsukune wasn't bringing up what had happened when he had… changed from using too much of Kyuubi's chakra. Surely he hadn't forgotten that, right? Was he trying to be polite by respecting at least some of his privacy? Then again, here he was, running this impromptu interrogation. That's when it came back to him, and he felt like smacking himself for not remembering.

'_Idiot, that's right! He was knocked unconscious before that even happened. Then he changed and I had to beat some sense back into him. Fuck, how do I forget that?' _Naruto's eyes had glazed over as he thought back on that particular event, and, unbeknownst to him, his pace had slowed significantly, up to the point where Tsukune eventually bumped into him.

Apparently, running into him had not been enough to retrieve Naruto from his seemingly deep train of thought. Seeing this, Tsukune walked to the front of the blonde, who had now stopped walking completely, instead just staring of into space. So, seeing no other option, Tsukune began to wave his hand in front of the blonde's face. When that didn't work, he also started to call his friend's name.

"Umm, Naruto-san? Hey, you okay?" Naruto shook his head as he heard someone call his name, banishing his thoughts. He blinked a few times only to see a hand waving in front of his eyes. He watched in for a few moments before in finally began to get on his nerves. With that, he quickly slapped it down out of his line of sight.

"What the hell?" asked Naruto in irritation, a slight growl in his voice.

"Oh, Naruto-san, you're all right," said Tsukune, slightly relieved as he let out a sigh. Seeing Naruto's slightly perplexed look, he elaborated. "You kinda' spaced out there. I wasn't sure if there was anything wrong." This was said as he scratched his neck in embarrassment, giving a short, dry chuckle afterwards.

"Well, as you can see, your concern was uncalled for." That being said, Naruto began his trek towards the dorms once again, albeit, at a much slower pace. Tsukune was right beside him, though he decided to keep quiet for the time being, so as to give the blonde a chance to cool down.

As the two walked, Naruto thought about what the consequences of actually telling his companion about himself would be. On one side of the spectrum, the boy really hadn't done anything to earn his trust. Then again, he hadn't really done anything to break it, either. Also, Tsukune didn't seem to be the kind of guy that would go around telling other people about him. There was also the added benefit that telling him may get him of Naruto's ass for a while. With that last thought in mind, Naruto made a decision.

"So, you really want to know what I am?" he asked out of the blue. Tsukune, taken momentarily off guard by the sudden question, stopped walking. Just a few minutes ago, Naruto was refusing with all his might to tell him anything. Now he was asking if he wanted to know? He shook himself from his stupor and jogged back up to his place next to the blonde.

"Y-you're really going to tell me?" Tsukune asked, incredulous.

Naruto nodded in all seriousness. "On one condition," he said. At this point, Tsukune's curiosity increased, wondering what Naruto would make him do in exchange for this information. "You can't tell anyone what you saw here today or what I'm about to tell you, not even your friends."

"They're your friends too, you know," Tsukune cut in, receiving a look from the blonde.

"It's nice of you to think so, but that's not really the point. I'll tell them when I think they're ready to know, or when I can't keep it from them any longer. Until then, I hope I don't see you betray my trust in you by telling anyone."

Tsukune nodded. If he could help it, no one else would find out. Naruto couldn't help but be slightly pleased by the resolve he saw in the boy's eyes. Maybe he could be trusted with the whole truth at some point. But not until later.

"Okay, now, the easiest way I can think of doing this is by just coming out and saying it. I am what you would call a shinobi." There was silence after what Naruto had said. The blonde turned to look at Tsukune, wondering why he wasn't saying anything. The boy had a quizzical look on his face, as if he didn't understand. "What's with the look?" he asked.

"Nothing, it's just that I thought shinobi were supposed to wear all black or something. And they have those throwing stars and knives. And no offense, but I've never seen you be particularly stealthy." Naruto fixed Tsukune with a blank look.

"Really?" he asked, almost not believing it. Sure, some of the things he said were true, but why would he actually show off some of those things that were true? "Why would I openly give myself away? And that whole thing about wearing all black is just a bad stereotype. Very few ninja I actually know actually do that. As for kunai and shurikan," he paused here to pull his hidden kunai out, "I have those."

"You're still not that good at staying hidden, though," Tsukune pointed out.

Naruto grumbled a bit before responding. "Well, I can be stealthy." To prove his point, Naruto approached one of the dead trees on the outskirts of the path. Channeling chakra into his feet, he placed one on the tree and felt it stick. He followed up by placing the other one on the tree and began to walk up it. When he was on the underside of a branch, he looked down to Tsukune to see the boy had a shocked look on his face. This just caused Naruto to grin. He did a back flip off the tree and landed right in front of the shocked boy. "Believe me now?"

"Uhh, yeah." There was silence again as the two began walking towards the dorms again. It was a peaceful silence, Naruto contemplated. In fact, he felt a little better after telling Tsukune a bit about himself. "Hey, does anyone else know?" the boy suddenly asked.

"Well, yes, actually. Mizore-chan knows as well as Zetsu-san. I suppose you can talk to them about it, but make sure no one else is listening." _'Of course, Konjyoyaki knows too, but I don't want to explain why that is.'_ It was then that Naruto noticed the path to his training ground, and decided that a little training should be done. He needed to make sure that he never lost control when using the Kyuubi's chakra again. "Hey, Tsukune," the boy turned towards him, "you go on ahead, I need to do something."

"Sure. I guess I'll see you tomorrow," said Tsukune, unsure of both Naruto's departure and reason, but he wasn't about to stop him. With that, the brunette went on his way to the dorms by himself. Naruto watched him go before disappearing into deep forest by himself, unperturbed by the strange and seemingly unexplained sounds that sounded at random, uncaring for the fact that night would soon fall, casting parts of it into pitch blackness, and happy to get away from all the problems in his life, if only for a few hours.

/

It was sometime later, and a few rays of golden sunlight were just beginning to crest over the horizon, casting away the moon and the pitch-black darkness of the woods. Long, deep shadows riddled the ground, both inside and out side the tree line.

Deep inside the woods was quiet, unnaturally so, especially considering the fact that the woods housed more than its fair share of vicious and dangerous beasts. Instead, these beasts were confined to more near the edges, almost as if afraid. Then again, could animals truly fear? Perhaps it was just their survival and self-preservation instincts telling them to stay away from a large spot in the center of the forest. But that begs the question, what would cause so many of these deadly beasts to run?

Suddenly, a rather large swarm or birds, their feathers black and their eyes a beady red, burst from near the center of the mass of trees, just as a foul energy burst from the spot they were coming from. They squawked loudly as they felt the power seemingly chase them. Even when the power seemed to stop, several yards from where the closest animal was, forming a large dome if visible, the birds kept flapping their wings, not stopping and not looking back, just wanting to get as far away as possible.

Deep within the woods, from the epicenter of where the power was emanating, was a familiar blonde. His normally spiky hair clung to his forehead with sweat. His shirt, tie, and blazer were hung on a tree branch so they wouldn't get dirty. The blonde himself was covered in a reddish-orange energy, the source of the dreadful feelings that permeated through the forest. His teeth were visibly both longer and sharper, and so were his nails.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, revealing red irises and slit pupils. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he started to move around until lowering in a stance. In the blink of an eye he was gone and a tree was heavily splintered from the punch it received. A few more kicks and it fell. Satisfied, a terrifying smirk forming on his face as a result, he began to release his control of the energy.

"I'm getting better with controlling this power," he began, a bit of excitement leaking into his voice. However, the blonde quickly sobered up, any trace of glee or excitement leaving him instantly in that moment. "But I still have a long way to go, even though I'm close to mastering this stage. I can call this power up on a whim and, for the most part, remain in control, but it's taken me months to get to this point." Now the blonde was becoming frustrated, the realization that he had only really taken baby steps in his training having hit him unmercifully. "And there's still such a way to go. I haven't even attempted to activate that cloak Kyuubi told me about. Damnit!"

The red, oppressive energy once again enveloping him completely. White-hot anger coursed through his veins, searing nerves and setting his synapses aflame. His eyes once again took on their menacing red and slit form. His nails lengthened, turning as hard as diamonds and transforming his hands into claws more than anything else.

The power turned deadly as it began to swirl around the boy, scorching the ground and setting a few trees on fire from the sheer intensity of its heat. His teeth, too, began to grow and sharpen into a fine tip. The marks on his face became more visible as they thickened and darkened. The boy's thoughts soon took an even more morbid light as guilt and regret took root deep within his very being.

"_It's your fault, you know."_ The sudden intrusive voice surprised the boy, if only slightly. It was familiar, but, at the same time, he couldn't seem to place a face with it. He didn't really care what was going on, but continued to listen to the voice, even as he kept a hold on the dark power. _"You couldn't save either of them, no matter how seemingly important to you they were. You let them be taken. You're the only one to blame."_

The voice continued to prod him, preying on his negative feelings and long thought dead and buried memories. The traumatic moments from which he had moved on from back from another lifetime ago came back to the surface of his mind. Focused on then ever increasing whirlwind of dark thoughts, the boy was left unawares as the flames grew bigger and bigger, turning his section of the forest into a blazing inferno, much like his inner thoughts, and setting the night aglow.

"You allowed Sasuke to become lost to the world, let him be eaten form the inside out by his own darkness. You saw the signs and did nothing to try to quell his feelings. Not once did you ask him what was troubling him, nor did you try aid him with his internal turmoil. Instead you chose to be lazy and self-serving, keeping him around only so you wouldn't succumb to the feelings of loneliness you truly felt in the village. You deluded yourself into thinking he was your friend and clung desperately to that hope."

The more this voice spoke, the more the fires raged, and the more the blonde lost his sense of self. Was it true? Did he really use his best friend as a puppet to serve his own means, only to get lost in the illusion himself? Had he only really tried to retrieve him because in the deepest corners of his mind, he still realized the boy was of some use, even if he was an unstable wreak?

"_You never truly cared for him or the other person you thought you held close to your heart. You're a sociopath in the deepest sense of the word, playing with other people's thoughts and feelings, using them to your advantage. You did the same thing with your _beloved _Haku. You cared only for her power and potential, twisting her love for you so she would become your perfect tool, greater than Sasuke could ever be. As long as you had her at your disposal, you could live without the Uchiha."_

The boy was now holding his head, claws unintentionally digging into his scalp as he tried in vain to block the voice out of his head. His gums were bleeding from him grinding his teeth so hard together. He didn't want to hear anymore. It wasn't true… or at least he didn't think so. He could feel the voice smiling at his thoughts.

"And then, you allowed her to be taken away as well. You were confident that she could handle most things on her own, even if she had had trouble in the past with such things. You were too ignorant, too proud to admit that you were wrong in trusting so much in her capabilities. That's why your anger exploded when you found out she had been killed. So much time, so much energy spent shaping her to your will, only to finally realize you had been so arrogant that you sentenced your little pet project to death."

Although he didn't want to admit it, it was an entirely plausible explanation. But, was he really that much of a cold hearted bastard. However there was no use debating it, as the seeds of doubt had been planted into his heart, and the voice didn't want the blonde uprooting them. It only needed one final push.

"Face the facts. The truth is, you pushed and pushed, blind and uncaring to any of the pain you inflicted. Those who care for you only end up being hurt and tossed aside if they fail to meet you standards. You did it once and you'll do it again. I can only wonder how you'll deal with poor Mizore-chan when the time comes for her to prove her worth in your unattainable standards."

At that moment, all of the boy's doubts and insecurities shattered just like the ground beneath his feet as the pressure around him increased and the power around him grew more volatile. It was at that moment that the voice realized that it made a mistake. Naruto's voice came out low; it resembled more of a growl than an actual voice. **"I don't****know who you are. I don't care where you are. And I sure as hell don't give a fuck about what you think. You may have had me believing you up to a certain point, but it's obvious now that you're full of bullshit. I'll never let anything happen to Mizore-chan or any of my other friends. I will return Sasuke to his former self and I will utterly destroy the bastard who killed Haku. And you're not gonna' make me believe otherwise."**

The already impossible power suddenly skyrocketed, as even more twisted red power exploded from Naruto, giving off more of a sense of fierce determination than anything else. It joined the other power, twisting together and launching into the sky, forming a glowing red pillar that set fire to even more dead trees and scaring any animal in the woods, as well as a few students who were awoken by the sudden burst of power.

However, the pillar quickly rained back down to earth and into Naruto, causing a large vacuum to form, sucking in all air from a mile around. Without oxygen to sustain itself, the inferno just seemed to vanish, keeping the school and many animals out of danger. A pressure wave suddenly exploded, leveling quite a few trees and awakening anyone who may have still been asleep.

In the epicenter of the explosion was a deep crater, at least ten feet with a radius of over a hundred, filled with cracked and scorched earth and the remains of blackened trees and ash. In the middle stood Naruto. Okay, really, he was crouching, all of the red chakra condensed to form a shell around him. His hair whipped in the non-existent wind as a single crimson tail flailed behind him along with long twin ears made up of the same energy. His pendant whipped about in the same way, its sterling silver a sharp contrast to everything

Somehow, Naruto was aware of everything. The whole world was in amazing clarity. He could see things in the distance with a crispness that had never been there before when using Kyuubi's chakra. He heard the power whipping about him. The blonde smiled a fanged smile as he began to move around. He was faster than he had been, stronger too.

He soon relinquished his hold on the power and let it dissipate into nothingness. He lay there panting for a bit, before getting up and returning to his dorm. He had worked out most, if not all of his aggression, and now knew that things could be much worse. He could deal with the situation now and knew that, in time, it would change for the better. But for now, he had to get some sleep. He had a big day tomarrow, after all.

/

"Damn, I can't believe I torched my clothes," said Naruto as he walked to the Student Council building. He walked alone on the relatively abandoned path, other students milling around the ends of it. He continued to gripe, assured no one could here him, and if they could, he didn't particularly care. "I mean, sure, I know I could have probably done more to protect them, but how was I supposed to know that Kyuubi's chakra would burn everything because that damn voice kept distracting me. Hell, I almost burned the whole forest down. I guess I'm lucky I bought several extra uniforms."

Naruto himself found it strange that he was able to think about things like this, considering all that was going on in his life. He felt a sense of calm for a reason he didn't know why. It was nice, seeing as he hadn't felt like this for a while. If he had to guess, it would be because the voice had somehow helped him realize himself. His inner musings were broken as someone else approached him on the, otherwise empty, dirt path.

"Hey, Naruto-san!" the blonde turned his head towards the source of the voice, only to see a familiar brunette coming towards him, jogging to catch up. Naruto slowed his pace to give the other boy an easier time. In a matter of seconds, Naruto was met with a good-natured smile and a warm greeting. "Good morning Naruto-san. Fancy meeting you here."

Naruto gave a nod at the boy's greeting, as the two began to walk towards a similar destination, though neither one knew that yet. "Nice to see you too, Tsukune-san. So, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm heading to a meeting with the student council. For some reason, everyone in my class thought I was the best choice and elected me. I'm a little nervous, actually. What about you?"

Naruto was actually a little surprised that the other boy had been voted a class representative, and truthfully a little glad that he wouldn't be the only one he knew that had to go through this. He would never let Tsukune know that, though. "I'm in the same boat as you, actually. Some jackass decided to nominate me, and, for some reason, everyone else thought that it was a brilliant idea. Now I'm stuck going to these meetings until this damn festival."

"That's great!" said Tsukune, his smile becoming slightly bigger.

"No it's not, this sucks! I never wanted this, and I can tell you probably didn't either."

"No, that's not what I meant, Naruto-san," answered Tsukune. "All I was saying was that I'd at least know someone here. Isn't that at least a little bit on the bright side?"

Naruto gave a grunt to show his answer, effectively ending all conversation for the moment as the two continued on their journey. It didn't matter, seeing as they were here anyway.

/

The duo walked into the room and were instantly greeted by an intimidating figure. Okay, only his height was intimidating, being taller than Konjyoyaki by maybe an inch or two. Everything else about the boy was normal. Brown hair that had a bit of fringe covering his eyebrows, calm hazel eyes framed by a pair of glasses, and a pleasant welcoming smile on his slightly angular face, with a clean uniform, this person generated feelings of professionalism, authority, and great kindness. Both stopped in their tracks, surprised.

The other boy's smile grew slightly, causing his eyes to crinkle at the edges, as he extended a hand in front of him. He spoke in a comforting voice, putting Tsukune slightly at ease. It did nothing to help Naruto. "Hello, you two must be the new council members we were told about. Allow me to introduce myself. "I'm Kageshiro Hokuto. What might your names be?"

A bit hesitantly, Tsukune grasped the boy's hand and shook. Letting out an awkward chuckle, he answered the question. "Nice to meet you, Hokuto-san. I'm Aono Tsukune, and this is my friend…" he waited for Naruto to introduce himself, but Hokuto called his attention to his friend's current state.

"Hey, is he sick or something?" he asked with concern in his voice. Tsukune turned to the blonde next to him and got a shock. The boy who he had never seen show any facial expression besides annoyance, anger, and sometimes a small amount of joy, was a stark white. There was a cold sweat building up on his face, and the brunette thought he could see the boy trembling a bit.

In his head, Naruto himself was wondering just what was going on. 'What the hell? H… He looks just like him. What's going on Kyuubi?'

'**Relax kid. They may look alike, but they're not one in the same. I can feel a great difference in their energy frequencies, even if I don't know the exact makeup of them. Besides, he's dead, remember. If he weren't, you'd be. You wouldn't be immortal if he didn't die.' **(1)

Naruto realized that Kyuubi was right. It was just a coincidence. He shook himself from his funk just as Tsukune place a hand on his shoulder and shook him a bit. "Naruto? Are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine, it's nothing," he answered. He then turned to the taller brunette and extended his own hand, ignoring the concerned looks. "Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet you." The concern on Hokuto's face was replaced with another happy smile as Naruto introduced himself.

"A pleasure to meet the both of you. Now, come this way please so we can get this meeting started." With that, the two were lead by the much taller boy. Both followed cautiously, both for different reasons. Tsukune was just scared, and that kept him from asking Naruto about his actions, or lack thereof, from just a moment ago. On the other hand, while Naruto had agreed that it was a coincidence, that the two just looked alike, he wasn't prepared to leave it at that. No, he was still cautious, and he doubted that that would change anytime soon.

/

The meeting had gone by rather smoothly. The boys were introduced by the committee leader, Hokuto, and were quickly accepted by most everyone there. As soon as the meeting started, Hokuto made a speech about something that shocked Naruto and Tsukune both. Anti-thesis.

The bespectacled boy announced them as a threat to the coexistence between humans and monsters. However, he quickly turned that around, saying that he wasn't afraid of a bunch of bullies like them, and would fight back, though not physically. No, instead he would make sure the whole festival that was coming up would help promote peaceful relations between relations.

This brought about many rounds of applause from the people in the room. Those close to the two told them about how benevolent their leader was and how they all looked up to him. Naruto saw all of Tsukune's inhibitions about trusting the boy were vanishing rapidly.

Naruto actually had to give the gut some credit. He knew how to convince people. However, he wasn't just ready to fall behind the boy.

The meeting was dismissed shortly after, and everyone was informed that, for the sake of education, all the other meetings would take place during club time instead of at the beginning of the day. Everyone left after that as Hokuto retreated to his office under the pretense to continue planning.

Oh, yes, Hokuto was planning. Okay, it was more scheming, actually. Scheming sounds more evil and mysterious, wouldn't you agree? Terminology aside, Hokuto was using foresight so he could royally screw over and generally do other not very nice things to people who didn't really deserve it.

At that point in time a rather familiar figure entered the office. When Hokuto saw the person, his normally cheerful and comforting smile was replaced by a wicked and malevolent sneer devoid of any warmth. If one who thought they knew him where to see him at this moment, they would write it off as a trick of the light, or think this person was an imposter, before promptly falling dead to the floor.

"Hello, Kiria. You're right on time." The blonde looked up from his book, a small smirk of his own on his face.

"Yes, well, I was eager to here what your new charges thought of you."

Hokuto sat forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his desk as he intertwined his fingers. "I'll admit, it could have gone just a bit better."

"How so?"

"Well, both of them seemed hesitant to trust me, but, after a little speech, Aono-kun seemed to trust me just as much as anyone else. Naruto-kun, on the other hand…" Hokuto paused as a smirk settled on his face, "he acted as if he saw a ghost. I doubt he'll ever really trust me. In fact, with all that's going on, it makes me wonder if our friend knows him."

Kiria smirked some more himself. "Uzumaki-kun's trust is not required for our plan to work like Aono-kun's is. As long as we keep the pressure up, he will hopefully follow orders. Speaking of which, I should probably go see him now." With that, Kiria headed for the door. "Oh, and one more thing. Since you mentioned him, when are we going to take out our little shadow?"

Hokuto feigned ignorance. "Whatever do you mean, Kiria?"

"You're friend is a lot like you, in more ways than one, and for good reason. I don't doubt he will try to betray us. So, it is logical that we would strike first."

"Oh, are you implying that I can't be trusted?" there was silence for a moment, before both friends started to laugh.

"Only to most people."

"Right. Either way, he still has use. Besides, as far as we know, he could be counting on us attacking him. For know, we'll leave him be, let him do as he wishes, as long as he doesn't interfere too much. Now, don't you have a charge to go and see?" and with and nod and a parting chuckle, Kiria left the office, leaving Hokuto to his thoughts.

/

Naruto and Tsukune were walking down the path back to the school. As they walked, they chatted about the meeting that just took place. "Wow, isn't Hokuto-san amazing? He shows no fear when faced with danger. And at the same time, he's so nice," said Tsukune, effectively taken by Hokuto's charm.

"Yeah, he sure is something," was the response Naruto gave, not really agreeing about what Tsukune was saying. However, he decided to keep his opinion to himself for the moment. First off. He had no proof of anything, and he did see subtle differences between the two. Besides, no one needed to know about that part of his past. Hell, he doubted anyone but him, Kyuubi, and Hidan knew.

He was shaken from his thoughts when he felt something eerily familiar. He found that happening a lot lately, but this time his thoughts were broken by a certain energy signature. He stopped in his tracks as he fully realized who it was. He had been dreading this.

"Hey, Tsukune." The boy turned to him, curious. "You go on ahead. There's something I need to take care of." Naruto could see that the brunette was about to protest, or at least question him, but seeing the stern look on the blonde's face, Tsukune decided against it.

"Well, okay. Just don't take too long." With that, the boy continued on. When Naruto was sufficiently sure that he was out of earshot, he turned to the tree line.

"What do you want, Kiria?" the shorter blonde appeared from the forest, book in hand, and a smirk on his face.

/

The blonde walked through the campus, searching for the one individual he needed to accomplish his part of the mission. As he looked, he couldn't seem to ignore the increasing pit in his gut. What he needed to do made him sick, mostly because it was similar in action to what the voice had made him out to be. Now, who was he looking for exactly?

"I asked what you wanted," said Naruto in a menacing growl, holding the shorter blonde up against a tree in anger. He hated the boy for what he was making him do, and even if he doubted he could beat him in a fight, Naruto would sure as hell try. After all, he did have a new trick up his sleeve.

Kiria seemed unaffected by the change in position and gave his signature chuckle. "You're a curious one, Uzumaki-kun. You no doubt know why I'm here, so what's the point in asking?" he chuckled some more. When he opened his perpendicular-slit eyes again, they lacked the mirth that his grin did, turning cold and calculating. "And I would suggest setting me down before we proceed any further, unless you want to get hurt."

Naruto hesitated a bit, contemplating how dire the consequences would be if he were to throw a punch right now. Eventually, he decided against it, figuring it wasn't worth the pain or effort, and complied with Kiria's request. As soon as his feet reached solid earth, Kiria gave an approving grin, showing off his sharpened canine teeth a bit more.

"Good, you can follow orders rather nicely." He dusted off his clothes and straightened out the wrinkles in his jacket Naruto caused from where he held him up. Once that was done, Kiria continued. "Now that we're a bit more civilized, we can start to get done to business."

Naruto growled some more, letting some of Kyuubi's chakra leak into his system, just enough to cause his eyes to go teeth to elongate a bit and his eyes to gain their distinctive red, slit form. His voice also deepened a bit as he accessed the power. He doubted it would do much, but he wanted to try at least some form of intimidation. **"Cut the bullshit Kiria! Just tell me what you want me to do so I can get this over with. If you remember correctly, I'm not here by choice, you forced this on me."**

Kiria's grin became a bit more sour at this, but he refused to let it disappear completely. "Okay, so you could stand to learn some manners. Ahh well, one step at a time. Also, your intimidation tactics don't work on me, so I suggest you stop it." Naruto let his grip on the energy slip, as it receded back to its source. The grin was back up now, if only slightly more diminished than originally. "Good, now for your target." Kiria fished around in one of his pockets for a second before producing a photo and handing it to him. "I believe you know them quite well."

Naruto took one look at the picture and instantly blanched in shock. This only lasted momentarily, however, as he soon clenched both his fists and jaw in aggravation. The picture fell to the ground limply, discarded, as the taller blonde once again pinned the other to the tree, pieces of bark flying from the force with which he was slammed up against the rough surface. "What kind of shit are you trying to pull?" shouted Naruto, getting right up into his face.

For a moment, Kiria's grin vanished completely. Naruto didn't have time to think about this, as, with a series of twists and flips, he reversed their positions, holding Naruto up against the tree with one hand grasping his neck. Naruto gasped for air as the grip lightened a bit, letting a small amount of oxygen into his lungs. Naruto glared at the boy, hands still to his neck, trying to pry the hybrid's hand off him. Kiria was grinning again.

"Please don't test my patience again, Uzumaki-kun, and consider yourself to be lucky that I'm being so lenient, both with your punishment and assignment. Now, as I was saying, I don't want you to hurt the girl or anything like that. I want you to isolate her and lead her to a certain spot for pick-up by another one of my agents. Then, I want you to alert her friends to the problem and lead them to the drop off point. One person in particular is needed to be alerted to the situation."

Kiria, at this point, produced a folded up piece of paper and slipped it into the captive blonde's breast pocket. Naruto just growled some more as Kiria continued to refuse to let up his grip.

"Now, this isn't a test for the girl, hell, it's barely a test for you. It is a test for the subject on the paper I just gave you." With that, Kiria released Naruto, allowing him to fall on the ground. "I'm sure you won't fail us. I shouldn't have to remind you of the consequences if you betray us. Good luck." He said the last bit with a smile and a wave, and then was off. Just as Naruto was getting to his feet, Kiria felt the need to call out one last thing behind his back as he left. "Oh, and I heard you joined the student committee. Congratulations! Maybe our organization can use this to our advantage." And with that, he was gone.

"Cheeky bastard." Naruto collected himself and the photo he had discarded earlier. It depicted a familiar pink-haired girl. He growled a final time as he folded the picture of Akashiya Moka and put it in his pocket, taking out the paper given to him by Kiria after. As he read it, he couldn't keep the scowl from his face. However, seeing no other option, he set out to find Moka, hoping he would think of something for when the time came.

Meanwhile, a little ways away, Kiria was thinking out loud to himself. "Hmm, maybe I should have told him that Midou-kun doesn't always follow orders like he should." He paused in his musings before letting out a chuckle. "Nah, that would have made this less interesting, and that would be no good, now would it?" Kiria just kept on laughing.

So, as you can see, Naruto was feeling rather stressed. He had no idea were his mark was, he had no idea who was going to pick her up, and he had no idea what was going to happen to her as soon as he left. The last one caused him to just feel even worse about himself.

It was strange, really. Before, he wouldn't have cared as much if this had happened. Sure, Mizore was friends with the girl, but he doubted they were incredibly close. The purple-haired girl tended to try to keep to herself, after all. And, yeah, he still would have felt low, but not anywhere near as low as something you might find after scraping the wall of a deep-sea trench.

Then, it came to him. Tsukune was close to Moka. He had seen them together and knew that they had something for each other, even if they didn't admit it outright. And, while he wasn't overly fond of the boy, he felt he had formed some sort of kinship with him.

Of course, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he could see a bit of himself in Tsukune. Not in any aspects like physical of mental or anything like that. It was more of a similarity in priorities. Both of them would die to protect those important to them. Really, if anything happened to Moka, he would be like that damned cloaked man. He could only imagine Tsukune would have a similar, if less volatile, reaction to him when he found out Haku was dead.

Mentally, Naruto now knew what to do. However, he still needed to find Moka before he could set his own plan into motion, so he redoubled his efforts in doing that. However, one last thought came to mind before he devoted all of his attention to finding the pink-haired girl. Really, he himself had a partial liking to the girl. She was sweet, if not sometimes ignorant, and when he first met her, quickly tried to get to know him. He was the one who pushed her away. He was potentially harming a girl who had never done anything wrong to him.

Naruto gave a deep growl, as he swore that as soon as he ripped the cloaked man asunder, Kiria and any of his superiors or equals were next. Then again, did he really want to devote his life to revenge? Seriously, if he killed or maimed anyone and everyone who made him do something against his will, even his ethics, the world, both his and this one, would be missing quite a few people. He decided that he would deal with the cloaked man first before he thought of any future revenge.

Just as he decided this, he caught sight of his query. She was walking with Yukari and Kurumu, laughing about something he didn't quite care about. Whatever it was, he was just glad that neither Tsukune nor Mizore were there. It just would have made his current situation more difficult and add some unwanted awkwardness. Besides, they would have suspected something right away. So, steeling his resolve and counting what few blessings he had, he approached.

"Hey," he said casually, causing three heads to turn. As soon as they saw him, both Kurumu and Yukari regarded him with slight trepidation. They may have gotten to know the boy a bit, but that didn't mean they really trusted him. They were still scared about what had happened with Kuyou. Moka, however, gave him her customary smile and friendly greeting.

"Hello, Naruto-san. Do you need something?" the blonde sighed. Her lack of caution of any kind showed just how vulnerable she was at times. It made him feel as if he was taking advantage of her. But, to her, she felt that she had nothing to fear. She trusted him, and he knew it. It didn't help him any.

He began to fidget slightly, something that didn't go unnoticed by anyone there, before he got himself under control. "Yes, actually." He took a deep breath, before, with a few simple words, he sealed both his and his friend's fate. "Hey, Moka-san, could we perhaps… talk? There's something important that needs to be discussed."

Moka looked at him quizzically, and, just as Kurumu was about to say something, her smile returned and she agreed with the same enthusiasm she regarded the world with. "Sure. What is it?" and before anything else could happen, Naruto started to lead her away, leaving behind two curious friends wondering just what was going on.

"Should we follow them?" asked Yukari.

"You know it. We may share some friends, but I don't trust that guy." And with that, they were off.

/

"So, what did you want to talk about, Naruto-san?" the blonde was quiet for a little while, waiting to get a little closer to his destination before doing anything. Moka, however, thought that he just wasn't listening. "Naruto-san?" taking a deep sigh, Naruto finally spoke.

"Listen to me, Moka-san. I consider you a friend, so I thought that you should know." The girl regarded him curiously as he continued. "You're in danger, Moka-san. You, Tsukune, and maybe everyone else."

"Wha… what do you mean?"

"Look, I don't have time to explain everything, but you need to trust me." reaching into his pocket, Naruto pulled out the items he had received from Kiria and handed them to the girl. "Take these."

The girl looked over them. As she did, she felt a distinctive sinking feeling as she came to the realization that something bad was going to happen. "Wha…?" she started before Naruto cut her off.

"Listen, I hate doing this, but I don't have a choice. Right now, there's a guy watching us. Any moment now, he's going to jump out and attack me. He will then take you to a safe house of sorts where I am suppose to bring Tsukune after he hears you were kidnapped. However, that's going to take some time, and I don't know what will happen while you're alone. I need you to stay strong. I promise that I will rescue you."

Moka was scared now; he could see it in her green eyes, the same ones that were sparkling with tears. He was about to say something, anything to calm her nerves and keep her from bolting. However, before he could say anything, he heard a scream, and then all he saw were stars.

/

In the trees, Yukari and Kurumu were following the two, trying to make out what they were saying. "Can you hear anything they're saying?" Kurumu whispered to the young witch.

"No, I think they're whispering."

"Crap, we need to get closer." Before they could act on anything, they saw a man appear behind Naruto. He was tall and muscular with a tan. His light blonde hair was cut short to the scalp and they could just barely make out some facial scarring in him. They heard Moka scream before he knocked the other blonde in the back of the head, knocking him out. He then grabbed Moka and took off running.

Just as they were about to follow, they noticed Naruto shake off his temporary blackout and stand up. With a puff of smoke, an exact copy of him was there, before it took off back to campus. The original went after the kidnapper.

After a slight deliberation of what to do, the girls came to a decision. "That copy he made probably went to go and tell the others what happened," said Kurumu. "We should probably follow the other one." Yukari gave a nod and they began to follow.

/

Naruto got up with a grunt. He had a splitting headache and, bringing his hand up to his skull, he found blood. Kyuubi quickly seared the wound closed and worked to heal any internal damage that may have been caused by the hit. "Fucker hit me good. Damn, let's hurry up. Kage bunshin no jutsu." With a quick puff of smoke, a clone was by his side, and, with a mental order, went to find Tsukune and, hopefully, some other friends.

He himself went in the direction of the guy who blindsided him, in the same direction that the piece of paper said to go. Right away he set a fast pace, making it difficult for his shadows to keep up with him. As he ran, he shed his blazer. It would only get in the way and it would serve for a marker for the others.

He rolled up the left sleeve of his shirt and unsealed his wakizashi, the strong rope coiling around him as the hilt settled in his hand. He was being serious about this, and would be damned if he left Moka unattended for long with the Anti-thesis agent.

Before he knew it, he was at the entrance of a beaten down warehouse. It looked abandoned and devoid of any life. He paused at the sight of it, waiting to get back any energy he lost. When he felt comfortable, he proceeded forward, only to be stopped by a voice.

"Wait up… you!" he turned around to see both the succubus and witch jogging up to him before coming to a stop, panting. Naruto narrowed his eyes. They shouldn't be here yet.

"Why are you here?" he asked harshly.

"We saw what happened… and are here to help."

Growling a bit, Naruto turned back to the warehouse. "So you were following us?" the silence was all the answer he needed as he sighed. "Fine, come on. The others will be here shortly and some help is better than none." And with that, the three entered the rusted door leading into the weathered building.

/

The clubroom was rather empty, the only people there being Mizore, Tsukune and Gin. Predictably, the latter was rather upset and annoyed by the fact that most of his underlings were absent. Granted, club still didn't start for a few more minutes, but people usually showed up early. The other two were just worried about their friends.

"Do you think they're in trouble?" asked Mizore suddenly, breaking the foreboding silence. Both boys turned to her. "I mean, Naruto-kun just naturally seems to find trouble, and I wouldn't be surprised if they started attacking our friends to get to us."

"Come on, don't you think you're stretching the truth a bit?" said Gin. "I mean, sure, I hear the blonde Tsukune here have made some enemies, but really, they should be able to handle themselves."

Tsukune, however, knew that Naruto was the only one who could probably take care of himself if worse came to worse. Not to say that his other friends couldn't protect themselves, but they had limits under that of Naruto's; of course, he didn't know a thing about Zetsu and his capabilities, but he wasn't betting his friends' well being on them. But, even if the shinobi was with the others, he wasn't sure if he could protect them. Besides, he was the only one who could remove Moka's rosary.

The brunette stood up, causing the other two to look at him. "I'm not sure about that. I haven't seen Naruto since this morning when that meeting let out and he told me to go on without him. Maybe something bad happened to him and someone attacked the others. I don't want to risk leaving them for dead if they are in trouble." With that, Tsukune started for the door, Mizore following him.

"Please! I mean, even if they were in trouble, wouldn't one of them get away and come find us?" asked Gin. Just as Tsukune was about to answer, the door burst open to reveal Naruto. From the looks of it, he had just run a long distance.

"N-Naruto?" asked Tsukune, shocked at the boy's state and the fact that he had almost been hit by the door. Gin finally stood up at this point, wondering what was going on.

"No, time to talk," he said. "Moka's been captured by Anti-thesis." Tsukune felt his heart drop at that moment. It couldn't be true, could it? Had he really caused an attack on his friends? He almost didn't hear what else the blonde had to say. "They're headed north. The real me is already in pursuit, but you need to hurry up."

"Wait what do you mean by real-…" began Gin, but he was cut off as the blonde disappeared into a puff of smoke, causing everyone's jaw to drop. "Did he just blow up?" shouted Gin, freaked out by the sudden explosion.

"No time for that," said Mizore, quickly overcoming her shock. "If what he says is true, both he and Moka are in trouble. We need to go help." The other two quickly agreed and ran after the purple-haired girl.

/

The large metal door opened with an ear-splitting screech. Rust flaked from the hinges as Naruto continued to push open the door until he could fit in through the crack. As he stepped inside the building, the only light from inside the dark building seemed to be coming from the holes in the ceiling. He looked around a bit until he spotted Moka in the center of the room, tied to a chair.

As the blonde approached her, she seemed uninjured for the most part. She was, however, clearly scared. She looked up as she heard him approaching, fearful. She relaxed a bit when she saw it was him.

"Naruto-san, what's going on? This isn't funny." The blonde put a finger to his lips, trying to quiet the girl.

As he started to untie her, he tried to keep her calm. "As I said, I'll explain after. But first I need to get you out of here and make sure these people never hurt you again." However, as he was working on a knot, he never expected a fist to slam into his side, causing him to roll away with a grunt and a crack.

"Naruto-san!" Moka yelled, tears forming in her eyes as she saw her friend injured. He may have been somehow responsible for this, but he was rescuing her. She didn't want to see him die.

Naruto coughed up some blood as he gingerly held his side, hissing when he put too much pressure on his wound. 'Shit, he broke most of the ribs on my left side. Fuck that hurt.' The blonde wearily looked over in the direction he was recently standing in. where he stood before was now an unknown man. He had short-cropped, platinum blonde hair, almost silver in colour. He had coal black eyes and a scar on his face. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, a frown on his face.

"Kiria told me that you were just gonna' bring the girl to the drop-off point and then get the boy over here. And now, here you are, alone and trying to free the girl. What the hell is wrong with you?"

Naruto stood, wiping the blood from his face as Kyuubi finished healing him. "Screw Kiria and your whole organization. I've had enough of your bullshit, and I'm getting out, even if I have to kill all of you." With that, the whiskered boy held up his sword, preparing for the other to charge at him.

He just shook his head, a slight smile on his face. "Fool, you can't leave Anti-thesis. You're even more of an idiot to think you can take us all on. However, since you seem so eager to piss us all off, and have already gone against us, I'll help you get out. Prepare to die!"

However, before anything could happen, the boy had to jump back, or else risk getting hit by a large metal pan, which fell to the floor with a clang. Both blondes turned towards the entrance of the warehouse, where they saw a small girl in a witch hat and a busty blue-haired girl in a yellow sweater. Naruto gave a slight frown of confusion at seeing the two.

"Why are you here already? Where are the others?"

Kurumu directed her gaze to Naruto and gave her own frown. "We were following you, and for good reason apparently. We'll talk about this later, but for now, we need to save Moka." With that, she allowed her true form to show, revealing leathery wings and a tail, complete with long and sharp nails.

The blue haired girl jumped up into the air and flew at the kidnapper at high speeds. However, another person jumped her a few inches from her mark, sending her tumbling to the ground. The boy gave a sneer. "You guys take care of the girls. I'll get the traitor."

From the shadows of the warehouse, several more people emerged. With a chorus of, "Yes, Midou-sama," they went after Yukari and Kurumu. Seeing this, Naruto made a few clones to go help the two girls before turning to his opponent.

He didn't have much time to think as he was once again punched across the room and into a wall, the boy having quickly bound across the room. The boy kept up the assault, running after him. Naruto had little time to think as he skidded across the floor, seeing the other boy refuse to let him get away.

He quickly rolled out of the way as a foot came down where he was a few milliseconds ago, despite how his body protested such action. Making use of the missed hit, he made a wild slash with his blade, being rewarded with a grunt of pain as he made a gash in his opponents calf. Pushing his new advantage, he rolled to his feet and settled into a crouch.

The now named Midou regarded him with contempt, Naruto having put a dent in his mobility. However, that wouldn't stop him as he continued to attack, even though he had a slight limp now, reducing his speed.

Naruto ducked under a punch and sent an elbow up into Midou's sternum, before rolling away as he sent an elbow of his own down to where he just was, sending some debris flying. As the blue-eyed boy got behind his opponent, he wasn't expecting the boy to use his new position to do a front flip, sending his heel into Naruto's jaw and bringing him off the ground a few inches.

Midou then proceeded to perform a spin kick, sending Naruto's airborne form across the room. As he landed, he thought of how bad this was going. He may have been able to draw blood, but he couldn't get enough time to make his symbol and actually ingest the blood. He also didn't have enough time to build up a Rasengan, and he doubted clones would give him enough time to perform the hand seals of any other good jutsu.

He idly looked over and gave a slight smile. He still had a clone left and had managed to help the girls take out two of the attackers, leaving only three more. At least something was going well. Now he could only hope Tsukune and the others would show up soon.

As he rose to his feet, he could hear Midou calling out to him. "Enough of this bullshit. Up until now, I've been going easy on you. Not any more." He looked as the by started to transform. The change was generally restricted to his right side, as his arm became larger and got encased in a sort of reddish shell, his fingers forming points like those on a gauntlet. His head also started to change, forming a sort of horizontal crest on the right side of his head. His eyes became wide and bloodshot as he finished, flexing his new arm.

Now, ant normal person would have believed that they were, at that moment, screwed, but not Naruto. No, instead he gave a light chuckle, despite the respectable amount of youkai Midou was emitting. The chuckle turned into a laugh, a rather loud one, causing everyone in the building to look at him. This gave his clone enough time to dispatch to more henchmen before the last one took it out and confronted the two girls once again.

Moka gave him a worried glance, wondering if something was wrong with him, while Midou just growled. **"You think this is a joke? I'll show you the true might of us hybrids, purebred scum!" **with that crazed declaration, Midou charged, pulling back his fist before swinging. He stared, wide-eyed along with Moka, to see Naruto stopping his mutated fist with his own hand.

"Idiot," Naruto said. He looked up to show a fanged grin, coupled with bloody eyes with slits. The hand he used to stop Midou's fist was bleeding, but other than that, it wouldn't budge, no matter how hard the boy pushed. He couldn't even get the other blond to let go of him.

"**What's going on? What are you?"** Midou was a little scarred, but he wasn't going to give up, not yet.

Naruto chuckled a bit more. "You know, for a long time, I wondered that myself. Am I good or bad? Am I really a monster like my village says I am? Did I ever deserve life? I don't know. However, I'm not a purebred, I can assure you that much. I can also assure you that you won't win this fight."

A red energy stared to kick up around Naruto's feet, swirling faster and faster, causing a wind to whip around the two. Naruto's pendant swung around as the wind became more violent. The energy slowly crept up his body, before covering him in red.

"**You know, I have been wanting to test this power in an actual fight ever since I mastered it. I guess I should thank you for the opportunity." **With that, a single tail of crimson energy sprouted from the cloak. There was a sizzling sound as steam rose from where Naruto held Midou's fist, causing the boy to look worried. He swung at the other blonde, only to have his fist burn as he made contact, and have him yelp in pain.

As the girls finished their final opponent, they looked to Naruto with Moka, and came to a fearful realization. 'This is the same power he used when he fought Kuyou. But he seems more… in control. I hope he doesn't turn against us this time.'

Naruto sent a punch into Midou's gut, causing him to lurch foreword, before throwing a cross into his face. With a final kick to the chest, he released Midou's fist, sending him flying.

As Naruto slowly approached, he noticed the burn marks on the boy from anywhere he had touched him. This gave him a sort of sick satisfaction as he continued to approach. As much as his friends wanted to stop him from going too far, they also didn't want to get in his way. Midou just looked fearful as Naruto stood above him, before straddling his chest and raining blows down on the boy, causing screams of pain.

Before long, the vestiges of another tail began to form. Naruto felt more exhilarated, though he noticed that he was becoming only somewhat aware of his surroundings. His eyes widened in realization as he released the power and got off the boy. He was badly burned, but still conscious and breathing, though obviously in pain. Naruto didn't even give him a second glance as he approached Moka. Everyone calmed down a bit as soon as the power vanished and watched as Naruto cut the rope holding the pink-haired girl in place.

Naruto kept his eye on Midou as Kurumu and Yukari came to Moka's side and asked about her well-being. As soon as that was over with, they all turned to the blond. "Okay, now how did this all happen? We want answers."

Naruto gave a small growl, but before he could make a remark on this not being the time or place, the doors burst open. Shocked, everyone turned to the source as a shout rang through the room. "Moka-san! Naruto-san! Are you okay!" everyone turned to see Tsukune at the door, along with Mizore and Gin. When Midou saw him, and noticed that no one was watching him now, he knew this was his chance to complete his job.

He rose to his feet, and before anyone noticed, he charged at the larger group. Anger overwhelmed him, clouding his vision. The blonde had made a fool of him, of his superiors, of everything he stood for! He would pay!

Naruto turned as he heard someone approaching, only to see Midou. He couldn't do much else, not even yell, as his fist came crashing into his face. There was a gut wrenching tearing sound, along with some splatters. Before anyone really knew what happened, Naruto's body fell to the floor with a wet smack, blood leaking all around him, as his head flew across the room over to the door, stopping right at Mizore's feet.

/

Yeah, I'll leave you there. So, once again, sorry for the late update, but I had other things to take care of. But hey, look on the bright side; schools almost out, giving me more time to devote to my stories.

So, I'm thinking I'll update this again one more time, before moving on to the next chapter of Natural Biotic and then Rosario+Kitsune. You don't like it, too damn bad.

1: Kind of complicated, but Hokuto reminds Naruto of the old leader of Yugakure. Really, you only need to read the first three chapters of Bloody Prayer to fully understand, but it shouldn't take you more than an hour if you decide to do that.

Now, for a rant. So, I recently found out that Naruto Shippuden is now airing on Disney DX. Has been for a while now. Having already seen most of it, I decided to do a little comparison and found that it is actually bearable, though they edit some stuff out, as you can imagine. Then earlier this week, I see Dragonball Z showing on Nickelodeon. It is the original one, and they also cut stuff out, but it is also good. My question is, are you proud of yourself Cartoon Network? You let two of the most popular series go to competitors because you refused to skip the filler. Granted, one of the series is already over, but that's beside the point. Oh how you disappoint me, Cartoon Network.

Also, while watching that Dragonball Z, I saw a preview for a Nickelodeon original series that is being made intro a movie. Avatar: The Last Airbender is being made into a live-action movie directed by M. Knight Shamalyan. Now, I liked the cartoon series, and now their butchering its good name. What the hell? This just disappoints me. Well, I've run out of steam, so let's end this chapter.

What will happen in the battle now that Naruto is down and out? How will his friends react to his 'death'? Will Anti-thesis finally fall? Stay tuned. Also, this chapter is over NINE-THOUSAND! Yeah, I couldn't resist doing that. This chapter is actually 11,092 words long! Yeah, don't expect anything else like this for a while.


	12. Confessions

Hey folks, and welcome to chapter 12 of M.I.B. got another long one here for ya, albeit, not as long as last time. Either way, let's get on with the show, picking up back at the fight with Midou.

/

Disclaimer: Acolyte had been stuck in this strange place for a few weeks now, and couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu. It felt as if he had done this before, and that made his head hurt. He wondered if this was a dream.

Suddenly, Mike appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. "Morning, Mr. Acolyte."

"Oh, hey Mike," he replied, not really paying attention.

"You mind if I ask you something?" Acolyte remained silent, Giving Mike the go ahead. "You see, my mother is very sick, and I was wondering if I could have the week off to visit her."

"Sorry, we have a very busy schedule this week. I can't allow that." It looked like Mike was about to reply, the entire world dimmed, and everything froze. "Huh?"

From behind Acolyte, that spirit that brought him to this place appeared. _"Come with me, we have things to discuss."_ And with that, the world darkened.

/

Chapter 12: Confessions

All was silent as everyone stared at Naruto's decapitated head. They were shocked, to say the least. They had never expected any of them to die, least of all Naruto. He couldn't possibly be dead.

Hesitantly, Mizore shakily bent down, everyone watching, as she grasped Naruto's head. She held it in front of her, just staring at it._ 'This is a dream,'_ she thought to herself. _'No, a nightmare. There's no way he could be…' _she didn't want to even think the word. But, she knew it was no use to convince herself otherwise. Tears slowly started to leak from her eyes as she fell to her knees. She clutched the head to her chest, not wanting to let the last piece her best friend go, afraid that he would become just a distant memory. _'He's dead.'_

Everyone stared at the girl with sympathy, trying to deal with their own emotions. Moka knew what it felt to lose people you care about, especially when she almost lost Tsukune. It was hard, but at the time, she knew that there was a chance for the boy to pull through. There was no way you could come back from this.

While Yukari and Kurumu never particularly liked the boy, they never wanted him to die. He was a part of their club, and had an obvious effect on their friends. They could only imagine how those closer to him were doing; what they were experiencing.

Gin also knew what it meant to lose those close to you. A year ago, his whole club had been destroyed at the hands of Kuyou and his minions, leaving him to sift through the ashes alone, others having gotten out before it was too late. The now headless blonde had helped him avenge his friends, even if he was willing to let it go. Yeah, he would miss the blonde.

Besides Mizore, Tsukune was probably fairing the worst of anybody. Deep down, he couldn't help but feel that this was his fault. His yell had caused Naruto to become distracted. His blood was partially on his hands. He had caused one of his friends to become an emotional wreck.

Tears built up around the corners of his eyes; tears he refused to shed until this was over. He would make the monster responsible for the death of his friend pay, one way or another. Faster than anyone thought he could move, Tsukune ran towards Moka. Before anyone could react, he grasped her rosary, disengaging it from the chain with a 'click'.

A familiar power was unleashed, stirring up dust and causing the unstable building to tremble. It held, however, as the dust cleared to show Moka in her true vampire form. She turned to the recently forgotten Midou, who had regained some of his lost energy. She just glared at him with her red eyes and sneered.** "Do you really think you stand a chance? A lowlife like yourself, especially in the condition you are in. I don't know if I should admire your resolve and bravery, or pity your stupidity."**

Surprisingly, Midou just grinned. He slowly walked toward the wall as he spoke. **"You know, people with superiority like yours really pisses me off. You think you have no weakness. You think you're invincible. You refuse to give hybrids like us a second chance when you see us and find out what we are. It's like we don't pose any sort of threat."**

Midou chuckled some more, causing everyone but Mizore to regard him with confusion. Had he gone crazy? What was he planning? Gin had moved to Mizore's side, making sure she was okay. She was still crying, still holding Naruto's head. It caused the blonde to feel terrible. Some may wonder why he hadn't said anything if he was still alive. Now, to understand his, you have to step into Naruto's shoes. Try having your head cut off and start speaking. You probably couldn't due to the fact that the shock to your system is too great. This is what had happened to Naruto.

As much as the boy wanted to scream and shout to everyone that he was fine, that nobody should worry, he just couldn't. His mind wouldn't let him. Kyuubi was helping him as best he could, but it just wasn't enough. However, seeing his best friend like she was, it caused something inside him to snap.

It was with pure willpower that Naruto managed to get a few words out. "M-… Mizore-chan. It's okay." Now, as you might imagine, having a 'dead' head speak into your chest can come as quite a shock. That was no different here, as Mizore gave a slight 'eep' and dropped the head, causing it to roil a few feet across the ground as she quickly scurried a few feet back on he hands. Gin also jumped in fright, shocked by Mizore's actions and the seemingly disembodied, muffled voice.

"G-Gin-senpai, d-did Naruto's h-head j-j-just… t-talk?" Gin just silently nodded his head, not quite sure if he could form a coherent statement at the moment. The two just stared at the head, wide-eyed.

Naruto stared blankly at the two as they both regarded him, unmoving. When he blinked, it caused both of them to jump. " Umm, no offense or anything, but could one of you, I don't know… pick me up or something? The ground isn't exactly all that comfortable." Still not exactly sure what was going on, Mizore quickly yet cautiously crawled across the ground and once again picked up the head, not wanting to anger what could be a vengeful spirit. Eyes still wide and directed on her friend, she didn't notice as Gin still stood in his original spot, not daring to move until told, both from a mixture of confusion and fear of what the head may do if he somehow displeased it.

"N-Naruto-kun?" she asked, eyes watering up again, not sure if she was going crazy or not. Naruto just gave a light, half-hearted chuckle.

"Hey, I told you I was immortal, didn't I?" Mizore just let a few more tears fall before giving a smile.

"Naruto-kun!" with that, she once again crushed him into her breasts.

'_Soft,'_ was the only thing he could think, somehow blushing despite the current lack of blood flow to his head. As much as he secretly wanted to stay like this, it wasn't the time. He shook his… well, his head, in order to get the purple-haired girls attention. "Mizore-chan, you need to go and help the others. Leave me here." He could see she was about to protest, but he quickly cut her off. "Please don't argue with me. I'll be fine. Trust me." he ended with a grin, causing all her objections to die in her throat.

"Okay, Naruto-kun. Come on, Gin-senpai." With that, she set Naruto's head down and stood up, Gin following as he was finally shaken out of his stupor, giving a glance back to Naruto before following the girl as she went to her friends. Naruto just sighed.

Suddenly he realized something that would have caused him to smack himself if he had arms. "Now, why did I do that? Crap, now I have to get over to my body the hard way." And with that, Naruto started to roll his head towards Midou, the last known position of his body, grumbling all the way.

Meanwhile, said monster had finally reached the wall, which he used to help prop himself up. More importantly, he reached a rather unassuming and recently overlooked valve. **"You see, your out look is all wrong. Anti-thesis knows this, that's why I joined." **The name caused Tsukune to growl. Only Midou noticed as Mizore and Gin joined their friend's ranks. **"You see, they understand all monsters. They see humans as the threats they are. They understand that coexistence is pointless. And they understand that us hybrids are the best chance as a solution. They see that we are strong." **He chuckled some more. **"True, we may not be much of a match for S-rank monsters in terms of sheer strength or speed, but what we have is just as powerful. More importantly, it is what we lack. You see, we hybrids have no true or common weakness. We just have ourselves!"**

And with the end of his little speech, Midou destroyed the valve. At first, nothing happened. Then, the sound of little piece of rust and metal hitting the ground made itself apparent. Before long, a ringing sound was going off and it was almost like it was storming inside the building. It soon became obvious what had happened as Moka collapsed, all her power seemingly drained from her. Midou had triggered the sprinkler system.

Moka laid on the floor, struggling to get up, to move, anything really. But, as it was, she could do nothing but glare at the hybrid as she squirmed around. Even after the water stopped falling, there was little she could do with all of her power taken away. Midou just continued to chuckle as he pushed off the wall and started shuffling towards the downed girl.

"**You see? A weakness such as yours is an unsightly thing, one that humans can easily take advantage of. You all have common weaknesses amongst your species. Hybrids don't. We are an improvement to monsters everywhere! We are the harbingers of a new age of youkai supremacy! You can do nothing to change that. You can't stop natural selection."** Just as Midou got five feet in front of Moka, he was stopped by a blockade of Yukari, Kurumu, and Tsukune. Gin and Mizore were tending to the girl, trying to help her get back on her feet in any way possible.

The badly burnt and injured hybrid stared at the three with a mixture of confusion and anger. Before he could tell them to move, the human of the group spoke up. "You're wrong. A plan like yours will never work." Tsukune looked up, a fire burning in his eyes as he matched Midou's gaze. "Before I met anyone here, I never really believed in monsters. Then, when I came here, I thought that I would be done for. I thought that you all would want to kill me the moment you found out I was human. I never imagined that my first real friends would actually be monsters." Tsukune started to tear up a bit as everyone looked at him, captivated by his speech. Kurumu put a hand on the boys shoulder as he continued. "I realize now that everything that I had been told about monsters is a lie. They're actually more human then some people I know. And I know that most monster races would never let you accomplish your sick plan. They will do whatever it takes to prove you wrong!"

There was silence as the boy finished, tears freely running down his face. Then, Midou spoke. **"Touching, now get out of my way. After I kill the vampire and the rest of your little friends, I may consider letting you live, but only if you can understand your place in the world. Now move!" **it was obvious that the hybrid was getting more annoyed by the second, but the three refused to move.

"What makes you think you can win? Last time I checked, we had five people and you're all alone. Even with our heavy hitters out of the way, I'm pretty sure we can take you," said Kurumu, staring at Midou. The bastard had hurt two of her friends, and now he thought he could get away with it? Hell no!

Yukari was quick to agree with the blue-haired girl. "Yeah! You're at a disadvantage. You would be better off giving up!"

Midou just grinned, before letting out a low, continuous whistle. It lasted for about seven seconds before he stopped. Suddenly, like times previous, seven more people emerged from the thick shadows. They quickly blindsided Kurumu, Yukari, and even Gin before they knew what was happening. **"You might want to re-check your math. Anti-thesis thought ahead and knew something like this would happen. You might want to remember that. Then again, I doubt any of you will live long enough."**

The hybrid moved to smack Tsukune out of the way, but was stopped as a sharpened icicle imbedded itself into his shoulder. He grunted as he grasped his latest injury and pulled the ice out, revealing what looked like a crystalline kunai covered in his blood. He tossed the object off to the side, almost hitting Naruto's head on his continuous roll towards the monster. Naruto, looked at the ice, then back the way he came. He gave an unseen grin as a plan formed in his head.

Meanwhile, Midou looked to the thrower of the offending object, only to see Mizore standing a little ways behind Tsukune, ice claws out. The purple-haired girl stepped forward, standing to the left of her human friend as she looked to the monster in front of her with barely restrained anger. "I won't let you harm another one of my friends. You won't win." Tsukune shivered a bit at the girl's voice.

Before he could speak up, Midou moved. Faster than anyone thought he could in his current state, he smacked the yuki onna across the room. Naruto looked up from his work as he heard Mizore's grunt of pain and saw her skidding across the room. He growled as he looked to Midou. _'Hey, Kyuubi! Any time now!'_

'_**Yeah yeah. You're the one who wanted as few people to see this as possible.'**_

Midou once again regarded Tsukune. **"Now that no one is left to defend you, I can finish this. You had your chance to live, and you chose not to. Time to die!"** now, Tsukune would have been mad as another of his friends was injured trying to help him, maybe even scared as he thought he was going to die. Well, he was both of those, as he saw something that confused him, smothering his other feelings.

Just as Midou pulled back, he was stopped as something stabbed into his side, causing him to stumble away. He was then punched in the jaw, kneed in the stomach, and elbowed in the back of the head as he crumpled under the blows. As he fell to the floor, he shakily looked up to see who had caused him to once again become distracted from Tsukune.

"**What now?" **what he saw caused him to become slightly frightened. **"W-what the fuck?" **he never expected to see Naruto's headless body standing over him, sword in hand, as it seemed to look down at him. (1)

"Bastard, I'll teach you to fuck with me and my friends!" Midou was then assaulted by the head of the blonde. Naruto started snapping and biting at him, before latching onto his human elbow with his teeth. Midou gasped in pain before smacking the head away along with the body.

At this time, Moka had finally gotten into a sitting position and watched the display with a morbid fascination. It was safe to say that she had never seen that before. She was shaken from her thoughts as she felt a dark power emanating from nearby. She turned and saw Tsukune.

The brunette couldn't stand it anymore. His friends were doing all he could while he just sat there, helpless. Hell, even Naruto was helping, and he was fucking decapitated! He hated being so fucking weak! He wanted to help, but couldn't. It was just like with Kuyou. Suddenly, his neck started to hurt. Really, it was more of a strong burn. Before he could lament on this fact further, he blacked out.

While this was happening, Naruto was now working on bringing himself back together. "Hey dipshit! I'm right in front of you! Ah, fuck!" and for the third time, Naruto's body had kicked his head even further away from it. The blonde was now sporting a black eye, a bloodied nose, and a busted lip to go along with his decapitated status. Finally, his hands got a grasp on him and held him to his neck, where Kyuubi started to reattach him. "You did that on purpose."

'Maybe I did. But can you blame me? You hardly ever visit and there isn't exactly much to do in here.'

'_Whatever.'_ With that, Naruto began to walk off to finish the plan he had to finish the hybrid off once and for all. It was within a few steps that he realized something was wrong. _'You asshole.'_

'_**What did I do?'**_

'My heads on backwards.'

There was silence for a little bit. Then, _**'Well what do you expect? It's not like I can see or anything.'**_

"Stupid fuckin' piece a'_…_" Naruto grumbled and trailed off as he grasped his sword and ever so gently began to saw his own head off. However, as you may expect, it isn't that easy, and in his haste, his head once again rolled away from him. "Fuck!"

This time, however, his body quickly found his head and attached it, the right way this time. Naruto wiped off his blade as he thought that something was finally going right. He began walking back, as he crouched down and picked up Mizore's ice kunai from earlier.

As he thought of the girl, he idly looked behind him and saw the girl helping her friends take on more Anti-thesis grunts. He was slightly shocked when he saw multiple copies of her, and vowed to ask either her or Kyuubi about it later. Pushing the sight to the back of his mind for now, he just kept on walking until he suddenly noticed something and stopped.

He looked back down at the kunai, spotting the blood that had frozen almost all over. He took a lick that sent a shiver down his spine, lapping up the blood and swallowing. _'Hmm, it's almost like a popsicle,' _he mused, before his body started tingling and he grinned.

Midou was taking a slight breather. As he did so, he regarded Tsukune as the boy began trembling before he collapsed to the ground. He then looked to Moka, noticing the look on her face. It was one that showed a resigned duty and anticipation. Anxiousness, almost. For what, he didn't know, but feeling well enough to get back up, he did so, before approaching the female vampire. That was, until he was stopped… again.

"Hey shithead!" Midou turned around, anger skyrocketing and patience diminishing rapidly.

"What the fuck do you want? Can't any of you retards just let me do my fucking job so I can leave this damn place and take a fucking nap? I mean, really, how many times do I have to knock you the fuck down before you stay that way? You think I want to be here? I don't! So let me do this and we can all go home and live happily fuckin' ever after you dumbass!"

The hybrid turned, and looked confused as he saw Naruto no longer looked like his normal self. In fact, everyone looked, drawn in by the boy's shout. Well, everyone but Mizore's ice copies, who continued to fight and swiftly dispatched their targets, and Tsukune, who was now convulsing on the floor. What everyone saw was a pitch-black Naruto, with white markings where one would say his bones would be. They also noticed him standing in a pentagon-like mark on the floor that seemed to be drawn in… blood?

The blonde regarded the hybrid with a bored look as he idly twirled his wakizashi in his fingers. He stopped as the blade was finally facing him. "You know, you scream too much. But, hey, if that's the way you're gonna' be, I'll give ya something to scream about."

With that, Naruto plunged the blade down, stabbing himself in his left thigh. Many were shocked and wondered just why the boy would stab himself, when Midou collapsed to the ground, holding his newly bleeding leg with a yelp.

Naruto just grinned as he ripped the serrated blade out, bringing flesh, muscle, and ligament with it, causing Midou to scream even more. However, that grin soon turned into a frown, as he realized something wasn't right. There was something in the air. Something familiar. He turned his gaze with widened eyes over to Tsukune, to see him slowly stand up, staggering a bit.

The boy stood up to his full height, seeing Midou on the ground, bleeding. Everyone was looking at him now, noticing his now slit pupils and blood-red eyes, much like Moka's, as he approached the boy. The hybrid was blissfully unaware of the approaching danger as he struggled to rise. He managed to get on his hands and knees before he noticed a shadow over him. He cautiously looked up, only to be sent across the room from a kick to the face.

He flew through the air as he crashed against a wall with a sickening crack, part of the structure coming down on top of him. Tsukune continued his slow approach as everyone finally realized what was going on. "Shit!" Naruto said as he quickly left the symbol, all heal and skin turning to normal, headed for Moka where everyone else was gathered.

Meanwhile, Tsukune pulled Midou from the rubble, before throwing him back to the center of the room. Walking back up to the body, he gave a quick stomp on his right side, causing even more cracking and popping sounds as Midou coughed up a mouthful of blood with a gasp.

"We need to do some thing, and fast," said Kurumu as Tsukune began pounding on the hybrid's chest, arms, and face. Moka just shook her head.

"There's nothing we can do," she said solemnly.

"What do you mean?" Naruto regarded the girl with a heated gaze, irked by her lack of trying.

"I mean that he's lost himself." She turned back to the boy as she continued. "He's become a ghoul; a monster created when a person losses all their humanity, all of the cognitive thought and becomes nothing more than an animal, acting on nothing but instinct and bloodlust alone. I fear that the blood I injected into him before has finally taken control of his mind." The girl finally stood up, fully facing the scene of brutality. "Our only option is to do away with him before he comes after us. This is my fault, and it's my responsibility. I'll be the one to do it."

"You can't!" Yukari voiced their collective thoughts. "There has to be another way. Besides, you're still to weak from that dirty trick that bastard pulled."

"We don't have a choice!" she snapped. "All of you have already done your fair share of work, and as I said, it is my responsibility. Besides, there is no one else here who can possibly help us now, it's too dangerous."

Just then, the door of the warehouse burst open, and in walked in several people. "Well, isn't this a fine mess we've stumble upon? Good work, Zetsu-san." From the door appeared several familiar faces, though not all were familiar to everyone. Each person immediately recognized a different individual.

"Ruby-san!"

"Hey, isn't that the guy who helped us take down Kuyou?"

"Amami-sensei, why are you here?"

"It's that creepy chairman guy."

Yes, it seemed that four individuals had come just in time to help, though the one Naruto didn't know, the girl with black hair done up in pigtails whom Yukari had called 'Ruby', did seem kind of out of place, especially given her choice of clothing.

Moka growled as she eyed the newcomers. "What are you doing here?"

The chairman just smiled his unnerving smile. "Isn't it obvious? We're here to help."

"You're too late for that. Tsukune has already lost himself to the effects of my blood. The only thing we can do is eliminate him," she said bitterly.

"How did you guys know we were here anyway?" All eyes fell on Naruto, realizing that the blonde had a good point. This time, it was Konjyoyaki who spoke up.

"Zetsu here was following you with the instructions to come find me if one of your fights got out of hand, like now."

"Then why didn't he jump in to help us?" asked Kurumu.

"Zetsu isn't the best fighter around, but he can dispatch weaker enemies with relative ease and help buy time with stronger opponents. Also, the orders told him explicitly not to engage the hostiles and to come find me. Now, are we going to stand around talking all day, or can we do our job?"

Moka once again growled. "This is my problem, stay out of it! As I said before, the only way we can help Tsukune is to put him out of his misery; something that is my duty alone."

"Don't be so sure that there is nothing else we can do," the chairman said with a twinkle in his glowing eyes. The white-clothed man nodded to Ruby and Konjyoyaki. "You two have your orders."

With a nod from both individuals, they acted. The girl began muttering something under her breath as she began waving her wand around. Meanwhile, the eternally smoking man accepted something from the chairman before dashing off towards the possessed boy. The orange-eyed man closed the gap between them in under a second.

The dehumanized boy looked up from beating his unconscious and barely breathing foe, just before receiving an elbow from Konjyoyaki. Tsukune was launched from his place and thrown into the air, as the one-armed man once again seemed to vanish.

He reappeared right in front of the boy, as he was about to hit the ground and directed a kick to his midsection. However, this time Tsukune was prepared, as he caught the handi-capable man's leg and spun him around, throwing the man into a wall.

Konjyoyaki flipped in the air, landing on the vertical surface with his feet and using chakra to stick there. Tsukune was on the man once again, finding this new target much more entertaining than the motionless body of Midou. The smoker didn't move as Tsukune launched a punch at the man.

Just as the fist was about to connect, Ruby finished her incantation. Vines burst from the ground and sped off towards Tsukune. They wrapped around the brunette's arms and legs just before Konjyoyaki could receive the punch.

Acting on the opportunity, the man got right next to the immobilized boy. Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved the object the chairman gave him; it was a silver locket. He quickly looped it around the boy's outstretched arm several times and tightened it. Once that was done, he appeared behind the boy and gave him a quick chop to the neck, catching the knocked out boy as Ruby dispersed the vines back into the ground.

"How's that for an alternative?" the chairman's voice startled the children, getting their attention back onto him. Moka was the first to regain her senses.

"What did that man just do, exactly?"

"We can explain later. Right now, we're headed to get you all patched up at the infirmary and detain this guy there until he's well enough to answer a few questions." Everyone looked back towards Konjyoyaki, who now had Tsukune slung over his back and was dragging Midou behind him. Zetsu quickly moved to help the man carry the hybrid so he could carry Tsukune in a more comfortable position on his shoulder. Seeing no other option, the children began following the others to the infirmary.

/

"I'm telling you, I don't need to be in this bed!" Naruto shouted, trying to sit up and get out of the hospital bed, only to be pushed back down with a glare from Kurumu.

"And I'm telling you, anyone who gets their head punched off needs medical treatment!" the blue-haired girl shouted back. Naruto grumbled something under his breath as he sat back irritably, something that the acute ears of several people in the room heard. Gin chuckled slightly as Kurumu had another outburst, "What was that?"

"I don't get it, what are they going on about?" asked Ruby, voicing the thoughts of those who didn't hear what Naruto said.

Konjyoyaki just shook his head. "I'll tell you later." Everyone who had been at the warehouse or who had come to rescue Tsukune was in the same room of the infirmary, which was really more like an on-campus hospital, what with its several stories and equipment that some lower-level hospitals would be envious of. Naruto occupied one of the three beds in the room, the other two holding the unconscious bodies of Tsukune and Moka. The girl, now back in her pink-haired form, had collapsed when her other self had put the rosary back on once they had arrived. Once everyone who was injured got bandaged up, they returned to the room, only to find the nurses who had been informed of Naruto's recently decapitated form trying to get the blonde to stay in a bed long enough to run some tests on him. Kurumu all too eagerly offered to make sure the blonde stayed put.

Speaking of which, the succubus turned to the smoker, eyeing him with a glare of his own. "And you," she said pointing to him, "Why are you even here? And why the hell are you smoking? This is a hospital!"

Konjyoyaki, who had done this song and dance only too many times in the past, just shrugged his shoulders as he spoke his answer. "It's for medical purposes."

"Bullshit! You should at least have the decency to do it outside!"

With a sigh, Konjyoyaki made his way from the doorway to the other side of the room. Once there, he opened the window in front of him and crawled outside until he was sitting on the ledge. "Better?" Kurumu just glowered at the goateed man, but otherwise kept silent.

Suddenly, there was a stirring, drawing everyone's attention over to the bed the pink-haired vampire was occupying. "Ugh, where am I?" she asked, sitting up and rubbing her head.

"Moka-san, you're awake!" yelled Yukari, stating the obvious as she jumped onto the unsuspecting girl. Kurumu just grumbled as she approached the bed and pried the little witch off of her friend. Now freed of the child, Moka got a chance to take in her surroundings.

She quickly concluded she was in a hospital, surrounded by friends and two men she didn't know; one standing in the corner dressed in white robes giving her an unnerving smile, and the other sitting on the window sill smoking, also dressed in white, with both his right eye and arm missing.

Taking her eyes off the two, she found that she was in a bed with both Yukari and Kurumu standing by her side. Looking towards the door, she saw gin propping himself up on the frame. He flashed her a friendly smile and gave a wave as she continued on. Ruby, someone who she had met on the summer trip, was there surprisingly. She was near the wall closest to the foot of her bed and a little off to the right.

A little to the left of the older witch was the bi-coloured boy she had some to know as Zetsu. Looking back to her right, she spotted Tsukune's unconscious form lying in a bed like hers. Giving the boy a worried glance, she finally looked directly to her left. There she noticed Mizore standing at the bedside of a familiar blonde, both looking to her. As she saw the boy, she couldn't help but remember what he had told her right before se was kidnapped. She was also confused, though. Hadn't he been killed? Yet, he didn't appear to have so much as a scratch on him.

"Moka? Are you all there?" the girl was broken from her observations when she noticed her blue-haired friend waving a hand in front of her face.

"Huh?" she asked, not able to think of anything else.

"You spaced out there. I asked if you remembered anything about what happened."

Moka's face quickly turned a shade to match her hair as she now realized everyone was regarding her with quizzical eyes… well, eye in Konjyoyaki's case. A bit too quickly, she stuttered out an answer, "N-Not really. T-The last thing I remember is T-Tsukune-kun t-taking off the rosary, and everything before that."

As she said that, she looked to Naruto to see tat he had a dismayed, apprehensive look on his face. She knew why it was there. She saw him look at her through the corner of his eye for a brief second before averting it back to his hands. Although she barely held his gaze for a second, he knew what he was telling her. He accepted what she was about to do and wouldn't hold it against her. Normally, she wouldn't do it now with so many people around, but, as it was, she needed to know what caused him to do it, and he did say that he would explain.

"Umm, Naruto-san?" a few people turned to the blonde as he looked to her, resolve plastered on his face. Despite making her waver a bit in her decision, she continued on. "Back when I was kidnapped, right before you were attacked, you said that there was someone in the trees and to keep quiet, then said what was going to happen. And you said sorry, too. Did you intentionally help have me kidnapped?"

Everyone turned to the blonde, perplexity and shock building within him or her. What he said next caused those feelings to explode. "As sad as it yes, Moka-san, I helped kidnap you."

It was silent for a few moments, before Kurumu quickly rounded on the blonde. "Why you damn…!" the girl moved to make a hit, but was stopped as Mizore and Zetsu moved to block her path. Not one to be deterred, the blue-haired girl continued, aiming to strike the yellow-eyed boy. She never expected her fist to be caught by a gloved hand.

"Now, now, there is no need to resort to violence." Everyone looked to the person who now grasped Kurumu's fist, only to find Konjyoyaki. The girl looked back to the cripple's last known position, only to find that the windowsill was, indeed, vacated.

"Please, Kurumu-chan, let Naruto-san speak. There must be a reason for his decision to help the enemy." The girl looked over to Moka, who had a pleading look in her eyes. After a bit of hesitation, she finally gave up with a huff and pulled her hand away from the teacher, retreating back to an unoccupied corner in the room.

With a potentially volatile situation diffused, Naruto continued with a sigh. "You're right, there is a reason. You see, a few weeks back, I was approached by the self-proclaimed leader of Anti-thesis, a group hell-bent on proving monster, especially hybrid, superiority over humans. The guy, named Kiria, said that he wanted me in his group."

"Excuse me, but are you saying that Yoshii Kiria said that he is the leader of Anti-thesis?" everyone looked at the chairman in confusion at his interruption, while Naruto just gave a nod. "I see. That is highly unlikely, seeing as Kiria has been known to be unenthusiastic about things like this and lacks ambition, being better suited to the position of a follower. It is more likely that the true leader of Anti-thesis would rather stay hidden and sent Kiria to act as the faux leader. But that would also mean that Kiria is still a high-ranking member of the group to be trusted to hold such a position. I'll make sure to keep an eye on him; please, continue with your story, Uzumaki-san."

"Right, anyway, I declined and proceeded to get into a fight with him. After he easily handed my ass to me, he just left. A few days ago, he came back, and once again offered me a position. This time when I declined, he did something. He said that he would go after you and showed me the means to do so. If he could take care of me, what chance did you guys have? I had no choice."

"Why didn't you tell us, Naruto-kun? We probably could have thought of something. We could have gone to the chairman." Naruto looked to Mizore, but couldn't seem to meet her gaze.

"I couldn't think straight, and I guess that I was ashamed that I had sided with the enemy. I didn't want you to find out. I never could have expected that I would be sent to help harm you." Many looked to the boy with sympathy. However, one person wouldn't be swayed so simply.

"A likely story. Sorry, but a few words won't make up for a betrayal like yours."

"Kurumu-cha-…" Moka didn't get to finish.

"No Moka. It's his fault that we got into this mess, and his fault that Tsukune is like this. He had plenty of chance to tell us earlier, but instead decided to help kidnap you and tell us the truth only after you backed him into a corner."

Naruto looked at the blue-haired girl and growled in indignation. Even If what she had said had been partially right, this girl couldn't possibly understand what he had been through. "I don't need this." Before anyone could stop him, Naruto made a few quick seals and was gone inn a poof of smoke. In his place was a chair, like the ones seen ion the waiting room and that lined the hallway.

"Where did he go?" asked Mizore. The orange-eyed man supplied a helpful answer.

"He used a Kawarimi, a technique that replaces one's self with a nearby object. A useful technique for evading enemies and serving for distractions. Truthfully, he couldn't have gotten far and you can probably still catch them." People looked at him wondering how he knew that, before Mizore gave a quick glare at Kurumu and turned to Zetsu.

"Come on, we need to go find him." The boy gave a nod as the two made their way to the door.

"Wait, take Konjyoyaki and Ruby-san with you, they can help you find him." said individuals turned to the chairman, wondering why he hired them out. The cripple quickly agreed and joined the group, though the witch wasn't as compliant, obviously wanting to stay near the still unconscious boy. However, a look from her superior made her a bit more agreeable and she, too, joined the group as they left.

As soon as they were gone, the man just grinned and looked to the boy. He could sense the boy was waking and quickly hid in the shadows of the room. He didn't want to be seen just yet, after all.

/

As soon as the group of four was outside and the door behind them was shut, Konjyoyaki spoke up with a plan. "I think that it's a safe bet to say that we can cover more ground if we split up. Ruby-san and I will go down here," he said while pointing down the left corridor, and then pointed in the other direction, indicating that Mizore and Zetsu should go that way, "And you two should search in that direction."

Agreeing that it was a sound plan, Mizore nodded and took Zetsu down to the right, the latter of who shared a quick glance with Konjyoyaki, before the cripple took his partner down their designated path. As soon as they were out of earshot, the witch remembered something. "Hey, Konjyoyaki-san?" the man turned his one good eye to the girl. "You can sense people's energies rather easily, correct?"

"That's right," he said as the two continued their slow pace down the hallway, taking a left as they went.

"Well, if that's true, why can't you just sense where Naruto-san is?"

"I did. That's why I sent the other two to find him." This caused Ruby to stop in her tracks, causing the much taller man to stop moments later. He turned to her with a questioning look.

"So why didn't we all just stay together? Better yet, if the chairman knows that you can do this, why was I even sent out of the room?"

The man gave a slight grin as he fully turned to face the girl. "While I can't be sure about the latter question, I can say that I would rather not go against that man, and, for your sake, it's probably better that you listened and came along. As for your other question…" Konjyoyaki turned back around and began to walk again, Ruby following behind him, "I think that it would be better for everyone involved if Uzumaki-san were confronted by people he knows and trusts rather than someone he hasn't really met and someone he hasn't gotten along with in the past."

The witch looked up to the man, realization in her eyes as they passed by a group of nurses, all of them glaring at Konjyoyaki for smoking. All of the medical staff may have been informed that the man was allowed to smoke anywhere he wished for unknown reasons (2), and had been advised against reprimanding him by the chairman himself, but they didn't have to like the ruling. As soon as they passed the group, the girl spoke, "You know Naruto-san from a previous encounter?"

"Yes, from about two years ago. At the time, things were very complicated. I was hired to… watch over him, and he didn't exactly like the thought of that. To top it all off, he was dating my niece at the time."

"You have a niece? That means you must have siblings," said Ruby, for some reason feeling happy for the man, knowing he had family that he could go to if he had any problems. In the past, all she had was her old master, and now she had some friends to help her with her troubles. She had thought that the man had had no one there for him, but now knew otherwise.

"I suppose you could say that; an older sister and a younger brother. The kid was hers. Unfortunately, I haven't seen them for a long time, along with my mother."

"What about your father?" she asked, realizing that she had been wrong about him having close people to him. She watched as he clenched his fist at the mention of his father, trembling slightly. She didn't know why, but, for some reason, she suddenly feared for her life, a slight shift in his energies causing her to sweat a bit.

Finally, as if becoming aware of his companions state, he released his fist and his chakras went back to normal. An awkward silence followed before anyone spoke. "My _father_ is the reason that I haven't seen most of my family for a while. If you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it."

"I see," Ruby said, feeling a bit down that she had made this man feel something he was probably trying to forget. Konjyoyaki noticed that the girl was now more solemn, and knew she blamed herself for making him enraged. He knew she didn't mean it, and tried to take her mind off of it.

"You know, you did well in that battle earlier."

The girl suddenly looked up, face growing red from the compliment. "W-What do you mean?" she stuttered, embarrassed. This just caused her to blush more. "You're the one who did all the work; I just restrained Tsukune-kun."

"Nonsense," Konjyoyaki said, a slight grin showing on his features. "Without your help, I probably wouldn't have gotten him to stay still long enough to slip the locket onto him. I might have back in the day when I had two eyes and two arms, but not any more. If you weren't there, it would probably be me in one of those hospital beds while he was being shipped down to the morgue."

Ruby just smiled at the compliment, knowing she had worth and forgetting about prying too much into Konjyoyaki's past. The two just continued on in silence. (3)

/

Zetsu and Mizore continued their own journey, until they inevitably came to a fork in their path. With a weary sigh, the purple-haired yuki onna regarded her green-haired companion. "So, looks like we have to split up again. Do you have a preference on which way you want?"

Zetsu was silent for a moment as he closed his yellow eyes to concentrate. He reached out with his senses, focusing on the familiar, volatile energy that he had come to know as Naruto. His eyes snapped open as soon as he grasped onto the blonde's location a few moments later. "I'll take the left path, if you don't mind. You go right."

With a nod from Mizore, both went their own ways. The hall was silent for about a minute before the twin-coloured visage if Zetsu rounded back from where he went, the man intent on returning to the room.

'_Good luck, Mizore-san.'__** 'Hopefully, you can get Naruto-san to come back. He trusts you more, anyway.'**_

/

A few minutes after splitting up, Mizore heard a distinct banging noise come from just around the corner. Hopes soaring, she rushed in the direction of the noise. What she saw caused her to be filled with a sense of elation and a bit of sadness.

Naruto once again hit the vending machine, aggravated with the lack of results it caused. Finally deciding to just rest his head on the machine, he thought of how this day could get any worse. "Stupid technology. Can't even work right." He was unaware of Mizore's presence. As such, he didn't know that she could hear everything he said. "Fucking blue-haired bitch. What the hell does she know? She can't possibly understand the position I was in. now everyone thinks I'm some jackass who'll turn on them any second. Shit, what do I do?"

Mizore couldn't take it anymore ad emerged from her hiding place, intent on making the boy feel better. "That's not true, Naruto-kun."

The blonde looked up, his startled state showing in his wide eyes. "Mizore-chan? What are you doing here?" the girl paid him no heed as she continued her approach.

"I don't think that about you, and I know a few other people don't think that either. I know you had your reasons for doing what you did, and, although it could have gone through with better execution, your plan was fine."

Naruto turned away, refusing to look the girl in the eye. "Thanks, but that's not the point. Kurumu was right, about almost everything. I was irresponsible, and because of me, everyone got injured."

"That's not true Naruto-kun, and you know that." Mizore spoke with a firmer tone, hoping to get` it through to the blonde that things could have gone worse.

"Yes, it is! I could have ended that guy easily, but deep down, I wanted to draw the fight out, wanted to make anti-thesis and everyone in it to suffer. I caused that guy to attack everyone, and that caused Tsukune to go off the deep end. Fuck, I even caused you to think I was dead and almost made you breakdown completely." With that, the blonde turned around to the bench behind him and took a seat on it, Mizore sitting right beside him.

"Despite what you may think, I don't blame you, and all that matters now is that everyone is okay." Naruto looked down at the floor.

"That's not the point." It was quiet for a moment as both contemplated on the situation. After a while, Naruto calmed down a bit and was ready to speak again. "I lied back there, you know. In the hospital room, I said that I agreed only because Kiria threatened everyone. That's not true. You're the only one he threatened." Mizore was silent, looking at the boy with barely contained shock. "I joined to protect you. Still, I never knew that I would be sent after your friends. But, even if I had, I still would have agreed. I refuse to let harm come to you."

The purple-haired girl just looked at Naruto before smiling a bit, shaking her head. This boy, he really did care about her. It made a warm feeling grow inside of her, knowing he would do anything for her, something she didn't quite understand. She just wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders. The blonde reciprocated the motion, looking to the girl as she rested her head against him. Finally, Naruto let out a smile, as he laid his head down on hers, and all was silent.

/

In another part of the hospital, things weren't so peaceful. In a dark room, a door opened, allowing a blonde-haired nurse to enter a room filled with the rhythmic beeping of machines. She gave an all too cheery smile to the boy in the bed, one barely seen in the dim room.

"Oh Midou-kun, I'm here with your medicine," she said, carrying a tray holding paper cups, each filled with various pills. Said boy looked up to the nurse, his body and face heavily bandaged. Even then, various burns and bruises showed through. He managed a grin as he spoke.

"Hey Mako-chan." The girl continued foreword, holding out a cup to the boy.

"Since you're handcuffed to the bed, looks like I'll have to give you your medicine. Open wide." The boy complied, swallowing the pills as they were given to him. Smiling, Mako set the tray down on the bedside table and took a set in the chair near the bed. Though her smile grew bigger, her tone grew graver. "You know Midou-kun, Anti-thesis is less than pleased with the results of your last mission." The injured boy looked to Mako, wide-eyed.

"But it wasn't my fault! That agent Kiria hired…" he was cut off as the blonde placed a delicate hand on the boys mouth.

"Be that as it may, I have my orders Midou-kun. I'm sorry." Her grin said that she wasn't sorry at all. However, just as she was about to strike, someone grabbed her hand. "Huh? M-Midou-kun, why aren't you handcuffed to the bed?" the girl asked, afraid. This wasn't right. The boy just laughed.

"Maybe because I'm not Midou." With a laugh, the figure just turned into a puff of smoke. Before Mako could scream, she felt something pierce her neck and fell silent. When the smoke cleared, it revealed a man dressed in a gray cloak, a hood shadowing his face. To his side stood Mako, her hair now streaked white and her irises glowing an unnatural, sickly green colour. The man grinned. "And better yet, I think I've finally perfected the formula."

/

And there you have it. Next up is Natural Biotic, where things finally get started. I still need a beta for that, so anyone who wants to volunteer to help will be accepted, granted they prove themselves.

(1). Yeah, I just figured that Kyuubi should play a bigger role, so I let it have the ability to control Naruto's body when he has no head. As you can see, there are still some kinks in the whole system of control that needs some fine-tuning.

(2). First off, no, Kon is not smoking the reefer. The whole story behind him smoking will be explained in part two of this story, along with some of his past.

(3). Just a bit of nonsense. I figure, Tsukune already has three girls, so I'd just let Ruby's mind wander on other possibilities. I don't know, does anyone want to see the witch with the cripple? I was originally thinking Shizuka, but I have other plans for her.

What will be the reaction when Tsukune hears of Naruto's treachery? How will this effect Naruto and Mizore's relationship. And what does the cloaked man's new formula do, exactly? Stay tuned to find out. I figure that this part has about three chapters left. I'm gonna wrap up the whole Anti-thesis thing next time in a big, super chapter, then move on to the festival. I think I'll take a brief break after chapter 15 to focus on my other stories; they're probably feeling terribly unloved. Anyhow, this chapter was 8,993 words long! Also, thanks to Lykaos, who helped me fix some spelling errors and make the whole decapitated scene a bit more light-hearted! Thanks dude!


	13. The Fall of Antithesis

Hey guys, how's it goin'? So, this chapter is out a little later than I had wished for, but, hey, what can you do? You need to take into account that this is my longest chapter thus far… again. Either way, five long nights, three big gulps, roughly 16 total man hours, two chapters of Rosario to Vampire to review, 53 repeats of my special iTunes play list, 27 pages on Microsoft Word, 12,000 plus words, two beta samples (technically) sent to my wonderful beta Lykaos, and a final edit, and I can now present you chapter 13 of Mistakes In Blood. After a disclaimer from yours truly, of course. Also, before I forget, there is an important note regarding this story at the bottom of this chapter for you. Don't worry, it's nothing bad, but please take a look at it would you?

/

Disclaimer: At this point, I'm giving up on my usual disclaimer style, due to the fact that it takes up too much space and gets no recognition. Hell, a few people even said that they hated it. Instead, I shall just say that I own nothing in relation to the two mangas in question. I don't have nearly enough talent for that.

/

Chapter 13: The Downfall of Anti-thesis

A surprise blow from seemingly nowhere sent Naruto tumbling across the room until he finally came to a rest against a wall. With his head still spinning, the young Jashinist struggled to rise to his feet, propping himself against the wall as he did so. Blearily, he opened his eyes, stumbling forward a bit.

"Fuck," was all he could say. The blow had sent him further away from his friends than he had initially thought, much further. Hell, the room was bigger than he thought too. At least three times the size he originally guessed. The darkness of the large room cut off most visual contact, the only light a tiny pinpoint against the pitch-black backdrop of everything.

Idly reaching up to his cheek, he tenderly touched the area of impact. He winced, knowing that the wound was already a bruise, despite it not being inflicted even fifteen seconds ago. Quite frankly, he was surprised that the whole right side of his face hadn't caved in on itself.

With a slight burning sensation, the bruise quickly disappeared, leaving only unmarred skin in its wake. His thoughts, however, were broken when he felt the release of a dark power; one that he didn't fully recognize, but knew was coming from the direction of the light. That could only mean trouble in this situation. Throwing caution to the wind, the blonde began his journey to the light as fast as he could, not willing to leave his friends alone for long.

Unfortunately for Naruto, he had yet to reach a state of equilibrium, even with Kyuubi working to help, thus causing much stumbling on the shinobi's part. Not one to be deterred, the blonde trekked onwards, determination burning from the core of his very being.

However, determination is only worth so much, especially in the face of a wrecking ball. At least, that's what it felt like to Naruto as said wreaking ball landed itself right into his midsection. The blonde just slumped forward as the offending object was removed from him, his eyes wide with shock in pain, his mouth open in a silent gasp.

The blow seemingly sucked any willpower the blonde had left out of him. Now content to just lie there on the floor, a foot came into view, if only barely. While Kyuubi may have slightly augmented his senses, he could still only see a little better than an average shinobi in the dark. Naruto didn't really care anymore. He figured let the bastard try to end him, he would endure, even if he didn't want to. It would take a while for him to pass out from the pain, time he could use to think of a way out of this.

A far off scream seemed to snap Naruto out of his funk, coming form the battle area, the light, where he was supposed to be, standing with his friends as he defended them. Revitalized, he got up onto his feet, even with his body's protest. A voice spoke then, an intimately familiar one, causing Naruto to almost slip. The blonde could have sworn that he could hear a smirk in the voice.

"Well, you certainly have a higher tolerance to abuse than I initially thought, especially to get up after that. I thought that I had at least ruptured something. Then again, I should have expected that it wouldn't be this easy. Regardless, I'm actually impressed." Naruto's eyes widened. It couldn't be! Why now? Reluctantly, but filled with a morbid curiosity that made him need to know, Naruto looked up, only for his stomach to drop at the sight of his adversary. He had hoped that he was wrong; that it wasn't who he thought it was, but he knew that there was no denying it. Idly, he thought back onto what had set all of this into motion, how he got here, and why he was facing this man.

/

One week ago:

In the halls of the hospital walked Naruto and Mizore, who had finally decided to leave the bench and just wander the halls, as bleak as they may be. The former of the two still had a reluctance to return to everybody in the room, so they were just passing time. However, as much as she cared for her blonde friend, Mizore was getting tired of going nowhere.

"You do realize that we need to go back eventually, right?" there was silence from Naruto. Just as Mizore was going to attempt to get through to him again, he spoke.

"I know, but for now, I think I can stand to not give the others a reason to feel uncomfortable. You can go back if you want."

The purple-haired girl just shook her head. "I'm not leaving you alone." Naruto gave her a look, one she didn't quite know the meaning of, but he kept quiet. The duo continued, before Mizore came to a conclusion. "This is about Tsukune, isn't it?"

Naruto stopped walking as that was said, only serving to confirm the girl's suspicions. "What do you mean?" he asked, trying to play the truth off and keep the girl guessing, or at least plant seeds of doubt in her. Neither happened.

"You know what I mean. You see Tsukune as a friend, and you're afraid that when he finds out the truth of what happened he'll hate you." At this time, Mizore moved around to be in front of her friend as she grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to look her in the eye. "Naruto, don't worry. Yes, Tsukune will probably be mad at first, but he'll get over it quickly. He's not the kind of person to hold a grudge with his friends."

"I know that!" Naruto quickly cut in. He never liked people dissecting his personality, his decisions in life, his reasoning, especially right in front of him. However, he quickly calmed down, refusing to let his frustration get a hold on him. Mizore was his friend, his best friend, and he never wanted less. He knew she meant wall and was only trying to help. Had it been anyone else, he would have smacked them for grabbing onto him. "It's just… it will be awkward if I were to show up right after someone were to tell him, you know? I need to give him some time to cool down."

Mizore may have agreed with the boys reasoning, releasing him as she returned to his side as they resumed walking, but she was still going to try to convince him to go back to everyone else. Not everyone disliked him for his decisions. She knew Yukari was an understanding girl, Moka, too, and everybody else had no reason to be cross with the boy, knowing that he had little choice in what he did. Kurumu was the only real problem, but she also knew the girl. She was very protective of her friends, and if she were put in the same situation, she would have acted the same way Naruto had, and she would figure that out soon enough, Mizore knew. She would never admit it out loud, but Kurumu was actually a rather sensible person who only had good intentions at heart.

"That's true, but how do we even know he's awake yet? We can still go back. The others have probably realized by now that you didn't have much of a choice, despite whatever is said."

Naruto just gave a decisive snort at that. "That still remains to be seen, Mizore-chan. Besides, with my luck, we'll probably walk in either just as Tsukune's waking up, or right after he's been told everything." As soon as he mentioned his luck, Naruto idly let a hand reach up towards his neck, rubbing were his head had been severed. Mizore noticed the action and became slightly worried.

"Hey, are you okay? Does your neck still hurt or something?" Naruto turned his head toward the girl, dropping his hand after being called out on the action. Blue eyes locked, Naruto's confused, Mizore's more questioning. Naruto turned his head back to the front.

"No, I'm fine. But let me tell you, being decapitated is a feeling you never forget, and the tingle of having your head reattached tends to linger."

"I see," the girl said speculatively. She highly doubted that she would ever understand what the blonde was talking about. Despite wanting to further question the boy on the matter, she let it go. There would be time later to ask, and, right now, she was content to just enjoy the semi-tranquil walk. However, her curiosity peaked when she heard a stifled chuckle from her companion. "What's so funny?"

The blonde shook his head, a smile on his face, the first real one in a long time. "Nothing, it's just that… well, back in my world, I could count my friends on one hand. When I arrived here, I never expected to make friends, quality ones at that. Now I have more friends than I did back then. Hell, turns out some of them are from my world, too. And we've been through it all."

Naruto let out a dry chuckle, finding some irony in the whole situation. Mizore just gave a slight smile, glad her friend realized that he wasn't alone, and never would be, if she could help it. Sure, he had his quirks, but so did everyone. The thing was, he didn't try to hide anything, like Naruto had nothing to prove to the world, he was just himself, like all of her friends. That's why Mizore liked to be around them, the blonde especially. He was honest about himself and had even opened up to her, even if it took some prodding. He trusted her, and she felt the same.

Her train of thought was broken, the blonde finally continuing. "But, you know the strange thing? When I first met Tsukune on the bus here all those months ago, I didn't think much of him, and I certainly never expected to become his friend. I thought he was just a spineless dumbass that didn't know his place in the world. But now, he's the reason I'm out in this hallway, to give him time to understand what I did, because I care for our friendship. Who would have guessed?"

"That is strange," Mizore admitted. However, Naruto still wasn't done yet.

"And you know what else. Throughout my time here, you were there beside me from the beginning, whether it seemed like it or not. You encouraged me, always offered to be a sympathetic ear for my problems. You were my first friend here, when I thought I didn't have a chance. I thought that my heart had died that day three years ago, but you stuck around, wanted to be my friend. Thank you, Mizore-chan, you really helped me, and I don't think I can ever repay you."

Although he couldn't see it, Mizore was blushing at the praise, before she, too, smiled a full smile. "Don't mention it. I feel the same way, Naruto-kun. You were my first real friend, and you don't owe me anything." The two continued their walk for a little while longer, prolonging the good mood, both generally happy.

/

It was a while before the two finally returned to the room, Naruto eventually getting comfortable enough that he had given Tsukune the time needed to absorb the news. As Naruto opened the door and walked into the room, he found it quiet. All eyes turned to them.

The blonde noticed, however, that two individuals quickly averted their gazes, seeming to find their own feet more interesting to look at. Yes, it seemed as if Kurumu and Tsukune couldn't bear to look at him.

Mizore moved passed Naruto as he continued to stand in the doorway, away from most people. The awkward silence hung in the air, as no one could really think of anything to say, and not wanting themselves to break the silence. Though, it seem it would be Gin who would free everyone from the oppressiveness of the situation.

"So… looks like you found him," the boy said, his comment aimed at Mizore.

"Yes, I guess I did." There was more silence before the boy tried again.

"You two were gone for a while."

Mizore just shrugged. "We decided to take a walk, you know, talk about some things."

"Oh, that sounds nice."

"What about you guys? What have you been doing?" it was now Mizore's turn to question the others.

"Not much. You know, explain some stuff to Tsukune here, wait for you to come back, it was rather boring." The conversation wasn't destined to go on any longer, unfortunately, as a certain blue-haired girl finally snapped.

"That's enough! Please, just stop!" all eyes turned to Kurumu as she stood up, almost knocking the chair she was sitting in over in the process. She looked over to Naruto as she continued speaking. "Look, I said some things I shouldn't have and took my anger out on you. That was wrong."

Naruto just narrowed his eyes at the girl, generally confused. "What are you talking abo-" he didn't get to finish.

"No, let me explain. In the end, you were really just trying to protect us the best you could, and when you explained it, I misunderstood and thought you had betrayed us. I yelled at you and made you leave. I'm sorry."

Naruto took a little time to take all that was said in, before he finally answered. "You don't have to apologize. You were right, I could have gone about the situation better, but I chose not to. Either way, thanks for understanding." Kurumu just gave a small smile.

"You know, if I were in your shoes, I probably would have done the same thing you did."

"I also understand why you did what you did." Now, it was Tsukune's turn to be under everyone's scrutiny. He didn't seem particularly bothered by it. "Anti-thesis forced you into your situation. You didn't know what they would have you do, you just tried to protect us. And you couldn't go against them, or they would directly harm us. If anything, it just shows that they are a bigger threat than we first thought and need to be taken down. We could really use your help."

Naruto just smiled. "Thank you. And don't worry, I'll find a way to get out so I can better help you."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you'll be leaving Anti-thesis quite yet."

Everyone turned to the chairman, his ever present grin plastered on his face. His comment was met with a collective, "What?" from most everyone in the room. If anything, his smile just got bigger.

"You see, we still don't know much about Anti-thesis, and you're the only one who we trust who has ever gotten on the inside. You also seem to be the one they go to in order to get your friends in harm's way. I don't know why, for surely they know everything I've just said, but they seem to trust you enough. You need to stay in so you can tell us any new developments in their group, so we can finally stop them." It was quiet after the chairman finished.

The more Naruto thought about it, the more Naruto disliked it, and the more Naruto realized that the chairman was right. He was the only double agent in Anti-thesis, trusted or not. He was the only one who could truly help his friends, even if it meant he would potentially have to harm them. With a sigh, Naruto gave his answer. "Fine, I'll do it." the chairman just smiled and left, leaving everyone in a somber silence.

/

The next few days certainly were… different, to say the least. That didn't mean that Naruto was enjoying himself, not in the least. Different didn't mean good or enjoyable, just out of the norm. The days following the battle with Midou followed a similar pattern.

Naruto would get up, do his morning routines, and then go to class. After that was done with, there was a meeting with the committee that involved planning for the festival and how they would work to stop Anti-thesis from promoting their beliefs.

When Naruto could finally get away from all that, he would usually be given orders to help lower-ranking Anti-thesis find his friends, sometimes even contributing ideas on how to draw them out. When he could, he would help his friends beat the one harassing them. However, there were times when he couldn't assist his friends. Naruto recounted an instance that happened not too long ago.

Kiria himself had finally stepped in at one point, bringing with him two trolls who were ordered to attack Moka. Luckily for the pink-haired girl, Kurumu soon showed up and helped defeat the trolls. The point is, Kiria kept watch over the entire battle, and if he really wanted to win, he could have, Naruto also couldn't interfere.

Either way, after the battle, Naruto would just hang with his friends in their clubroom. When he had enough, he would go to his spot in the woods, do a prayer, train a bit. Then the blonde would return to his dorm, have a quick meal, and then go to bed. The same thing, day in and day out. The only good thing was the end of the day. However, today was a bit different.

The school was filled with the hustle and bustle of excitement and anticipation, eagerly waiting the upcoming festival. Both clubs and individual classes were preparing attractions for the event, despite the fact that it was more than a week away, and the newspaper club was no different.

Most everyone who was supposed to be there was, working on their own activity and cataloging the entertainment of other clubs in their paper. However, they weren't expecting a certain someone to drop in. they all looked up when the door opened.

"Hey everybody!" everyone saw Naruto's blonde head peaking through the open door. They were all surprised to see him, expecting him to be at a meeting or something. Mizore was the first to call him on it.

"Naruto-kun? What are you doing here?" she got up from her spot on the floor and approached the boy. She was happy to see him, but confused. Naruto just smiled as he fully entered the room.

"Heh, Hokuto gave me the day off, said I was working hard and that I deserved a break. So, since I had nothing better to do, I decided to visit my friends. So how's it going?"

"Oh, just lovely, can't you tell?" Naruto looked up and saw Gin walk past, a stack of papers in his arms. He set them down on his desk and fully regarded the blonde. "Quite frankly, I'm surprised that you bothered to show up while we're actually working. Now get over here and help me sort through these papers."

Naruto just gave the shit-eating grin that he pulls off oh-so well. "What, you mean doing work isn't fun? Welcome to the real world, where you can't just relax all day." Gin just stared at him, looking more than slightly irked.

"Don't make me kick you through a window again." The blonde gave a weak chuckle as he approached the older boy, deciding not to tempt fate. After a few seconds of sifting through papers, a question was asked.

"Hey, Naruto-san," said blonde looked up to see Moka. The girl seemed pensive, he noticed. "If you're here, where's Tsukune?"

"Well, I would imagine that Hokuto would've given him the day off, too. But, knowing him, he's still probably helping out with the planning."

"Oh. Hey, can I go look for Tsukune?" the girl asked Gin. The boy stopped and seemed to ponder the question over. After a while, he gave an answer.

"You know what, yeah, go wrangle up his ass and get him to come and help us." Moka gave a bow to Gin in respect.

"Thank you, I'll go find him." and with that, she left. It was then that Naruto noticed the distinct lack of people.

"Hey, where's Zetsu and Kurumu?" surprisingly, it was Yukari who answered his question. Naruto thought it strange, considering the girl never really spoke to him. In fact, he thought she was actually afraid of him.

"Oh, they went out to gather information on the other club activities so we can compile them for the next issue of the paper. They should be back soon."

Speak of the devil, the two walked in the room not a second later. They both noticed the blonde head next to Gin. Zetsu smiled a bit, and so did Kurumu. Yes, over the past few days, everyone had got to talking to learn more about each other. After getting to know him, Kurumu had become more civil towards Naruto, who found a friend in everyone in the club.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Gin just sighed and called for a break, giving his underlings time to talk. Sure, he himself had no problem taking a rest, but they had a deadline to meet. After a while, though, Moka returned to the room, nearly busting down the door and looking like she had just run a few miles, scared for her life. Naruto just eyed her.

"Hey, where's Tsukune? And what happened to you?"

"No time for that! I… I just saw something bad!" she said panting. She began to make her way over to the group, Mizore and Kurumu helping her when she almost tripped over herself. After she was seated, Naruto probed her for more information.

"What did you see?"

Moka attempted to take a breath before she continued. "I-… it was Kiria!" all eyes turned to Naruto, who had his own eyes widen at that.

"He didn't tell me anything! Why, did he attack you?"

"You don't think he found out, do you?" asked Mizore, who was worried herself.

"That's not the point!" everyone's attention returned to Moka. "I saw him talking to Hokuto. I couldn't really hear what they were talking about, but I know I heard one of them say leader, and they seemed to be getting along." There was silence as everyone began to put the pieces together. Moka spoke what they were all thinking. "I think Hokuto is Anti-thesis."

"What?" everyone turned around, hearing a voice in the doorway. It was Tsukune, looking shocked, almost disbelieving. "Is what you said true?" Moka looked down.

"I'm sorry, Tsukune-kun. I know that you really admired Hokuto-san, but I thi-" she was cut of by a stifled laugh. Then, there was another one. It was obvious it was coming from Tsukune, even before he had burst out laughing like someone had just told a funny joke.

"I-I'm sorry, but you must have heard wrong! Hokuto-san would never ally himself with a group like Anti-thesis. He's against everything they stand for!"

Everyone just stared. Naruto was the first to snap. "Are you fucking serious?" Tsukune just stared. "I never trusted the guy, but even I didn't expect this. Nobody did. Face it, we were fooled. Hokuto's not the person we thoug-" Naruto didn't get to finish.

"No, you're wrong!" Tsukune yelled as he ran out of the room. Naruto just growled at his friend's inability to accept the truth. Though, he really didn't have a right to talk; he had the same problem not too long ago.

"I'll go after him. Someone go get help, and don't leave anyone by themselves. I want you all in groups of three at _least_. I don't know what's going on, but I don't want there to be the possibility that one of you gets caught alone." With those words of wisdom, he was off. Or, he tried to be, when a voice stopped him.

"Hey, wait up!" the blonde turned, only to see Mizore there behind him, determination in her eyes. Naruto wasn't in the mood to play games and, as such, growled.

"What are you doing? Get back in the room! It's dangerous right now! We don't know what Anti-thesis is planning, and you're all in potential danger!"

"So are you!" Mizore shouted back. Sure, she found it sweet that Naruto wanted to protect them all and cared for their safety, but it annoyed her that the boy thought that he needed to do everything by himself. They could take care of themselves most times. But, he was right; they needed to stay together, but that included him.

"So what? I can take them, but you could die! Do you want to die?"

"I will if it means I can watch your back!" Naruto froze. He truly wasn't expecting that. Then, he saw the look in her blue eyes. Sheer determination and will, matching his own. She was serious about this, and he knew he couldn't stop her. "Tsukune is our friend too. We should help." Mizore's voice was softer, seeing the effect she already had on her friend.

There was silence, before Naruto reluctantly nodded. "Fine, come on. But if things get out of hand, or we get ambushed, you run! Okay?"

"No promises." Despite himself, Naruto grinned a bit at that, even if he knew she was serious. With a nod he turned, but before they could go, another voice stopped them.

"Hang on, you said groups of three! I'm coming too!" turning, Naruto saw Yukari running up to them. With a sigh, not really wanting to fight and waste more time, Naruto just gave in.

"Fine, but try to keep up! We've already wasted enough time! And the rest of you!" Naruto yelled back at the room, getting the other's attention, "Get over to the chairman's office, and tell him what's going on! And stay together!" and with that, the three were off, racing around the corner past a very surprised, very confused Ruby. Shrugging, the girl continued onto the newspaper room.

/

When Tsukune entered the committee room, he thought that he was going to be sick. Everyone was dead or dying, bodies strewn haphazardly across the room, blood leaking from them all. The ones that weren't dead had labored breathing and were obviously going to die if they didn't get treatment in the next couple of minutes. Everyone was going to die, except for the one person standing in the middle of the room, not a scratch on his person.

"Hmm, nice of you to join us, Tsukune-kun. Looks like I was overheard after all. Pity. I didn't actually want to harm you."

"I-it can't be true." Tsukune's whole body was shaking in fear. If one person had done this to all these people, what was going to happen to him? What chance did he have? He just watched as the much taller boy picked up a splintered piece of wood as he finally collapsed to the ground.

"Unfortunately for you, it is," Hokuto said, testing his makeshift weapon by stabbing it into the wall. He then looked over to the wall, light glinting off of his glasses in an evil way. "And do you want to know something else. Kiria isn't the leader of Anti-thesis," he let that factoid hang in the air for a bit before dropping the real bombshell, "I am."

"I… I don't believe it. I trusted you, we all did. We thought that we could really make a difference if we followed you." Tsukune began to tear up, not wanting to face the truth. "I thought that I would be able to become stronger, better, if I followed you, Hokuto-san, even if it was a nobody like me."

The critical and calculating gaze that Hokuto fixed on Tsukune dismissed any thoughts he may have of him being wrong. The look held no warmth in it. "Don't be stupid. Your sentimental speeches mean nothing to me, Tsukune-san. However, I know that you are not completely helpless. How about this; show me how you defeated my underlings. I know you had a hand in at least some of their demises."

Hokuto continued to approach, stepping over the body of one of the former committee members. He continued to convey no emotion whatsoever, even as he raised his impromptu weapon, ready to strike.

"Of course, if you won't do even that… you can die!" however, just as he was brining the weapon down, it was cut in half and knocked out of Hokuto's hand. "What the? Tarot cards?"

The next thing he knew, he was stuck to the ground, unable to lift his feet. Looking down, his eyes, narrowed, noticing that the blood had frozen and had trapped his leg. Realizing something, he looked up, eyes wide, only to gat kicked in the face and get sent tumbling across the ground, the ice breaking. Tsukune just watched, eyes wide, before he felt someone grab his wrist and yank him to his feet.

"C'mon, move! We need to leave now!" the brunette quickly realized it was Naruto by his side, getting him to move. He also noticed Yukari and Mizore there with them standing by their side. He didn't have much more time to think before he was being shoved toward the door.

"Wait, some of these guys are still alive! We need to help!" Naruto just stared, but quickly decided that now wasn't the time to argue. He created a few clones to quickly sort through the bodies. In the end, three came out, each with a survivor, if just barely. He quickly sent them out ahead of them towards the hospital, rushing to get them stabilized.

"Happy? Now we need to move!"

"My, Naruto-san, I didn't expect you to be here." Naruto along with everyone else froze. Turning, the blonde saw Hokuto, not even looking injured. "I'm more surprised that you brought help, though."

Naruto gave his signature frustrated growl. "They followed me." everyone got ready to fight, Naruto unsheathing his wakizashi and preparing for the worst. Hokuto chuckled, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

"You know, I'm disappointed that you didn't side with us, actually. But, you were useful to us for a while." Naruto tensed, preparing to lunge, before someone else entered the room.

"Wait! Moka-san's been captured! Kiria got her!" Naruto turned, seeing Ruby, bloodied and weak.

"What happened!" really, the blonde wanted to know what Moka was doing with the girl in the first place, but he needed to get his priorities straight. That question could wait.

"She left Zetsu, Gin, And Kurumu to come find me. She wanted information on Hokuto and to inform the chairman. Before we could go, I was attacked from behind and Kiria took Moka. Oh god, this is all my fault." Yukari went over to help the older witch as Naruto contemplated what was said. Tsukune had to get something out, though.

"Was this your doing?" he asked Hokuto. The boy said nothing. Why would you do such a thing? I thought you hated violence, that you really wanted peace! I thought we were similar in that regard! Why are you doing this to us?" there was silence, before a smirk appeared on Hokuto's face.

"Similar, really? Heh, don't make me laugh. All you have are your speeches and friends, and if the latter of which left you, you couldn't do anything. We are nothing alike, and none of you will ever be able to fully understand my plan, let alone stop it. Really, the only one of you who actually stands a chance against me is Naruto-kun. However, as it stands…"

Before anyone could say anything, Hokuto just seemed to disappear. He materialized in front of Naruto, and before he could even try to defend himself a fist found its way into his stomach. He was sent flying by the blow before hitting the ground. "Naruto-kun!" he didn't know who yelled his name, but as he tried to get up, he was overcome by an unimaginable pain, causing him to shout out in agony.

'Don't move! That blow ruptured your stomach, and I'm trying to make sure your other organs don't dissolve in the leaking acid. I don't know how long this will take, but hang in there.'

Barley able to move, Naruto shouted out to his friends, voice filled with obvious pain. "We don't have any chance of escape! You need to fight together to even have a chance at defeating him! Ugh!" Naruto could barely make out Hokuto's form frozen in ice, but he was quickly escaping. Laying his head down, Naruto let Kyuubi do his job.

'_I may need to use some of your chakra after this.'_

'Let's not get ahead of ourselves, you're in pretty bad shape.' Naruto kept silent, waiting as the sounds of battle continued on, hoping that his friends were okay. He couldn't make out anything that was being said, but was only too glad when he heard Kyuubi. 'Okay, you're good!'

"Thanks," Naruto said out loud as he sat up. He was forced to wince at the pain, though. At least it was bearable this time. He focused, until he felt a pleasant warmth cover him, and his blade once again returned to its seal. His now red eyes snapped open, and with a grin, he was gone in a burst of speed.

His fist impacted rather nicely into Hokuto's chest, sending the boy into a wall as he spat out some blood, even more so as he slid down the now cracked wall. Naruto idly noticed that his friends were bleeding as he approached Hokuto's downed form, tail swishing behind him.

He grabbed Hokuto by his collar, the material quickly singeing as he looked into the boy's shocked eyes. "Tell us where Moka-san is before I have to do something… unpleasant." Naruto raised his fist in warning, more of a shimmering red claw than anything.

"Wait." Naruto turned, surprised as he let his concentration slip and the cloak vanish. Tsukune moved Naruto as he took his place.

The blonde narrowed his eyes. "What the hell are you doing?" it didn't seem he was heard.

"When you said that you wanted to bring peace to this school, you had conviction in your voice. I know that you meant it. I don't like seeing people I trust to get hurt." Everyone kept quiet, surprised that Tsukune still trusted this guy. Even Hokuto was shocked. "But I don't want to see you hurt anyone else. Your plan has failed. Please tell me where Moka-san is."

"Dumbass," Naruto said, more to himself than anyone. He was surprised when Mizore lightly elbowed him in the ribs and decided to keep quiet then, even as a piece of rubble hit the ground.

Hokuto began to get up, even as he said nothing. Tsukune clenched his hands before he stood up. "It's obvious you're not going to talk, so I have no choice. I wanted to end this privately, but it looks like we need to take Hokuto-san to the chairman."

/

Everyone walked into the chairman's private housing with Hokuto at the front, the boy bound with Ruby's wings acting like rope. The chairman smiled at the sight of them. "Good job everybody. You've all been a great help." The man descended the stairs, men clothed in black on either side of him. Naruto also noticed that Gin, Zetsu, and Kurumu were with him. "Just as I thought, it was Hokuto-san." That being said, he pulled a rosary from his robes and said something under his breath as he held it in front of him. The reaction was instantaneous.

A giant glowing seal appeared on the floor causing Naruto to wince at its brightness. "What the fuck?"

"It's a barrier, used to seal Hokuto's power!" Yukari said in realization. Surprisingly, Hokuto grinned as his confines disappeared.

"You were prepared. I now see why you kept yourself hidden. You really suspected me from the very beginning, is that it?" the chairman smiled, and everyone jumped away as a sphere of energy surrounded Hokuto. The boy punched it, only to quickly pull his hand back, knuckles bleeding. "Damn it." Naruto just stared as the crazed grin never left the boy's face. "Everything was a trap, wasn't it? Naruto and Tsukune joining the committee, even Naruto joining and betraying Anti-thesis, you planed it all out to fool me. You even sent people after Tsukune to make him stronger. Well played."

Everyone was shocked at the last bit, though, there minds latching onto the information. "What?" Tsukune asked.

"I'm right, aren't I? You calculated every detail!" everyone was speechless as this continued. The chairman didn't even attempt to deny anything, he just stood there. Naruto's eyes narrowed as his glanced between the chairman and Hokuto. What was the man really capable of? Finally, the chairman spoke.

"You truly are outstanding, Hokuto-san. I had great expectations for you. A pity that things turned out the way they did." With that, he turned up the stairs, robes swishing behind him. "Escort the children to my office and take Hokuto-san to the dungeon." None of the children made to move, even Zetsu was shocked.

"Heh… kuhihi…" Naruto turned as he heard the laugh. Hokuto was pressed against the barrier, crazed look in his eyes. "Kuhihi… hahaha… kuhahahahahaha! Hahahah! Hahihihihi!"

"What the fuck?" Naruto said under his breath, confused beyond imagination. What was going on? Had the boy finally cracked?

"Hyahihi! Bwahahahahahahaha! Bwahihi!" Naruto's eyes continually narrowed as the boy laughed. However, they shot open and he jumped away as a giant crack appeared on the dome.

Then, the barrier burst, sending shards everywhere. "Shit!" Naruto yelled everyone thought's as he shielded himself the best he could. In the end, Hokuto stood, hair whipping about as the energy expanded outwards with a rush, knocking most everyone over.

"You were wrong!" the boy yelled. "I calculated everything, this included!" faster than his eyes could track, Hokuto moved, pushing everyone down the stairs as he went to the chairman. Then next thing he saw, Hokuto was covered in blood, his hand morphed into some sick, branching bone spear, running the chairman through in multiple places, even stabbing two of his bodyguards. "I've waited so long… so long for this moment! One of the three dark lords, Mikogami, the chairman, has fallen by my hand.

No on dared to move, it seemed, entranced by the display before them. It was so brutal, so out of what everyone expected, that they could do nothing but see where this was going. The chairman, Mikogami, finally dropped, the rosary falling from his grasp.

"How? My barrier…that's it… You can control barriers." Hokuto ignored the chairman as he stepped over him, snatching the fallen cross.

"That's what I want. The key to dispel the Grand Barrier. I must have this." He juggled it in his mutated hand, smirk on his face.

"Dispel the Grand Barrier? You can't!" the chairman struggled to get up, to grab the rosary, anything. "The consequences of doing so are unfathomable!"

"What are you doing, Hokuto-san?" Tsukune was the first to snap out of it, apparently, as he started up the stairs. Hokuto turned to him.

"You still don't get it? I allowed myself to be captured. It was the only way to get myself close enough to the overly cautious chairman. I've been awaiting the day the chairman planted someone into the committee to test me. You were the more trusting individual, far more so than Naruto-san. I approached you and let myself get caught. Kiria kidnapping Moka was just to add pressure, just like the threat on Mizore's life was leverage to get Naruto to join us. I'll admit, I never expected a mole in our organization so soon, even if we brought him in knowing the risk, but it became obvious soon enough, and I soon factored him in, too. The chairman shouldn't have hung around you guys."

Naruto tensed, being reminded of how he was forced to join Hokuto's ranks. The memory seemed to get him to do something else other than watch. As he looked back, he also noticed Zetsu was tensed, in a fighting stance. He was ready to protect their friends. The subtle nod confirmed Naruto's suspicions as the blonde joined Tsukune. Hokuto just laughed some more.

"I knew you would crack under the pressure and seek help from your friends, just like I knew Uzumaki-kun would never betray you. You would seek help from the chairman as you got information from Naruto. All you actions were taken into consideration and were exactly as I predicted. Thanks to you, my plan went perfectly! You really are unable to do anything on your own, Tsukune-kun!"

Tsukune just looked down at his feet, seeming like a beaten puppy ready to accept death. Looking back, he noticed his other friends also looking rather down. Not knowing what to do, and unwilling to leave his friend's side, he just put a hand on the boy's shoulder. Tsukune didn't react to it at all. Hokuto smirked, and then said something that made Naruto's blood run cold.

"Then again, I shouldn't be taking all the credit. I did have some help, after all. Help from someone you know quite well, Naruto-kun." Naruto looked up, shocked, before his eyes narrowed. "Or, at least, he seems to know you. It was his idea to accept you into Anti-thesis to give you a false sense of security, like you had the upper hand."

Naruto growled as he stepped forward a bit. "Who?" he asked, although he had a faint idea. He needed to be sure, though. He knew that if it came down to blows, he would probably lose. He was willing to risk it, though. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his friends regrouping, preparing to jump into the battle. Naruto wouldn't have any of that, as he turned to yell at them. "Stay out of this! He's too strong for you and you'll just get in the way!" Hokuto seemed to ignore the blonde's outburst.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Hokuto said in a mocking voice. He turned and began up the stairs. "You are all weak fools. People like you have no say in these matters. No stop hindering me. It's about time I brought about the end of this academy."

Naruto just stood there, and was rather shocked as Tsukune moved past him. By the look on his face, he knew something was wrong. He watched as the boy placed a hand on Hokuto's shoulder, causing the boy to turn, an annoyed look on his face.

"What now? I have no use for you anymore." He saw as Tsukune raised his fist, but Hokuto paid it no mind. Naruto just tensed further, having a good idea of what was about to happen. If he was right, this might be their chance.

Naruto kept an eye on his hand, more importantly, the locket on his wrist, the one that controlled his vampire blood. Just as he thought, it glowed a bit as a crack appeared on one of the links. Hokuto noticed to late, and got the full powered punch to his face.

The boy was sent flying up the stairs as everyone's eyes widened. However, Naruto's mind was working. Knowing it was dangerous to get involved, but also thinking that it looked like Tsukune wasn't about to press the advantage, Naruto moved. 'Now!' he thought as Hokuto reached a good spot. Using chakra to increase his speed, Naruto bolted up the stairs, sliding as he reached the top.

He maneuvered under Hokuto's falling form and kicked up, hitting Hokuto in the back and sending him further in the air. Getting up, Naruto jumped, shooting past his enemy and going to the ceiling, sticking to it before he rocketed off the surface. Naruto started to spin to build up more power before giving an axe kick into Hokuto's stomach, launching the boy back down and Naruto flipped back near Tsukune.

Dust was kicked up as Hokuto landed, so everyone was forced to wait for a result. They were all surprised as Hokuto stood up, making a 'tsk'ing noise. "Was that really the best you could do? Your still trying and failing to hurt me." Hokuto rotated his shoulder, relieving the slight discomfort there. Naruto looked to his side, only to see Tsukune back to normal, a tear rolling down his cheek, but otherwise looking fine. Then, he spoke.

"I've said it before, Hokuto-san, I don't want you to hurt anyone." Everyone stared, but Naruto was left wondering why he was still trying, his thoughts following Hokuto's. Tsukune bent down to the chairman, checking on him before standing again. "But if violence is the only solution…" Naruto felt the power reappear as Tsukune's eyes changed, "I will defeat you!"

Hokuto just stared, his hand morphing back to normal as he once again began to toss the rosary around. Then, he began to laugh again. "Ku… kukukukukukuku. What… are you serious? Defeat me? Did I mishear you?" he began to move down the stairs, Naruto moving closer to Tsukune to better protect the boy, though it wasn't likely he needed it.

"Hokuto-san…" Tsukune left his name hanging, almost in a warning like way. Naruto just looked over to him.

"Hey, are you sure this is a good idea? I think you're just pissing him off, and I really doubt that we could take him. Our attacks don't seem to have much effect." Tsukune didn't even spare him a glance.

"Don't think to highly of yourself," Hokuto said, also not seeming to hear Naruto. "DO you think trash like you really stands a chance against me?" everyone tensed further, as they could feel a pure, dark energy emanating from the boy. Naruto just swore to himself. From the corner of his eye, he finally saw the others begin to move. Unfortunately, Hokuto also noticed. "Where do you think your going? Just hold still."

Using the rosary, Hokuto created a seal under them, causing them to freeze in place. They were shocked as a dome of energy appeared around them, just like the one that Hokuto broke out of. Naruto saw them press against the barrier, before he heard Hokuto's voice again.

"Hmm, as I thought, this rosary can create barriers. As expected from Mikogami's Rosary of Judgment."

'Shit, we need to get that thing away from him.' Naruro glanced at Tsukune, trying to form a plan. However, this was a bit hard for him. He usually exploited the openings enemies left when they were surprised by what he could do. Shock and awe, that's how it worked. But, this guy seemed to know everything about him. 'We can't beat him, but we need that cross.'

"Not good…" Naruto averted his gaze, seeing the chairman trying to crawl towards Tsukune and him. "Hokuto… can control barriers… and has the rosary, the key used to create the Grand Barrier surrounding the school… You guys need to stop him… he's serious about exposing the school and plunging the world into chaos… everyone will be doomed."

"Fuck, this just keeps getting better, doesn't it?" despite himself, Naruto couldn't help but be sarcastic. In his mind, Naruto could imagine open warfare between humans with superior technology and supernatural beings with natural weapons. It wasn't just him; everyone but Hokuto looked scared.

"Heh, I don't see a problem. Youkai and humans were originally enemies, right? Why not return the world to its natural state. Everyone will be able to kill others to their heart's content. Besides, my… beneficiary wants to test an invention of his on a large scale. Open combat is the only good field test." Hokuto chuckled, regarding the rosary.

'Shit! If it's really is him… what is he planning? What more could he do? This is bad, we need to stop him.' apparently, Tsukune agreed.

"No! We won't let you accomplish your goals! We will stop you! Your conflict will never happen!" Hokuto continued to smirk as he bean to twirl the rosary by its chain.

"What do you plan to do, kill me? Can you really do that, or are you just all talk?"

"I'll kill you myself if I have to." Naruto said, causing everyone to turn to him. "But first, I'll make you tell me where you helper is. You will tell me how to find him."

Hokuto smirked, directing most of his attention on the blonde. Tsukune noticed this, and took his chance, diving for the rosary. Hokuto just flicked his fingers, tossing it into the air as Tsukune aimed a punch at him, which was blocked. Seeing the chance he needed, Naruto quickly caught the cross as he examined it as the other two were occupied. "Shit, how does this work?"

"Focus your energy into it." Naruto glanced at the chairman, following his instructions. In a second, the barrier shattered, releasing his friends. Naruto sighed, before hearing Hokuto's voice.

"Oh well, it's only a small victory for you. Now, hand the rosary back over." Naruto watched as Hokuto held his hand in front of his face, his fingers growing and hand splitting the bones apart.

His hand continued to grow and sharpen before he smacked Tsukune out of the way, stabbing at Naruto. Naruto bent and twisted, the arm grazing his cheek as it found a home in a pillar behind him. Unfortunately, the blonde unwillingly dropped the cross, allowing Hokuto to scoop it up.

"Fool." Hokuto's hand shrank back down, even as Tsukune tried to get the rosary back. Hokuto just bobbed and weaved around the blows effortlessly. "What a poor performance. You're only fighting on instinct, and, as such, are full of openings. Like this!" Hokuto morphed his hand again, going for a stab on Tsukune. However, Naruto was faster this time.

Jumping in, Naruto pushed his friend out of the way, taking the brunt of the attack and getting stabbed in multiple places. Naruto almost yelled at the pain, but held on.

"How noble, protecting your friend. However, was it worth it? The pain? I wonder, what's your limit before giving in?" Hokuto laughed as he brought his hand out. Or, he tried to. He stopped, his smirk vanishing as Naruto began to chuckle.

"This, this is nothing compared to some of the things I've been through. This will pass." Naruto grinned, grabbing Hokuto's hand and pushing it further into him, causing his enemy to lurch forward, surprised. "However, now you're at a disadvantage. You're an arm down, and you're outnumbered."

"Naruto!" his friends cried out in shock. Naruto just growled.

"Stay out of this! He's too much for you!" Naruto turned back, impaling himself further as he used Kyuubi's chakra to augment his muscles, making it so Hokuto couldn't pull out. "Now, Tsukune! This is your chance!" Tsukune just nodded, going in for a blow.

He was only swatted away by Hokuto's other hand. "I'm still more than a match for you two. Now, let go!" Hokuto then began hitting him with his other hand. With each blow, Naruto's grip weakened. The abuse soon became too much, blood dripping from his face and body, obscuring his vision a bit, and his grip disappearing completely, leaving the blonde standing limply. Hokuto laughed as he threw Naruto off his hand, his body impacting the ground with a wet smack. He didn't move for a while, letting himself heal, even as a few people approached him. In this time, Hokuto focused on Tsukune, his friends unable to really help. What could they do?

"This isn't good," said a voice, one he recognized a Ruby, "His body is covered in lacerations, and he's losing a lot of blood."

"Will he be okay?" asked another voice, Mizore. Why was she asking that? Hadn't he already explained his immortality to her?

"I don't know, but it looks like his wounds are slowly knitting themselves back together."

"I'll be fine," Naruto groaned out, "I just need time. Get back over to everyone else and watch each other's back." The blonde could sense the reluctance, but, before long, the two had moved away, leaving him alone.

Tsukune soon fell, and Naruto still couldn't move. Hokuto's smirk returned. "Are you two dead? Finally." He turned and began to walk away again. "Now, I have a barrier to dispel." However, he suddenly stopped, turning as Tsukune stood. "What?"

Energy burst forth from the boy, like a dam on his power had just been demolished. Naruto didn't know how long it would last, but it bought him valuable time. 'Hurry up Kyuubi. We need to stop him. We need that information.'

/

Naruto wasn't the only one looking for information on this mysterious person, however. There was another individual with the same goal in mind, though he was using different means to go about it.

Kiria was in a broken heap on the ground. His left arm was at an unnatural angle, his back hurt, and his jaw was most likely dislocated. However those were just the consequences of forcing Moka to remove the seal herself and taking her on. In his head though, he thought it was worth it. It definitely was interesting, if not quick.

"I still can't believe she broke the seal…" he said to himself, still excited. That is, until a shadow fell over him. Looking up, his eyes widened as he saw the figure. "You!" he said, shocked.

"Hmm, the fact that you know who I am only furthers my belief that you were warned of my presence by someone. You also seem to know what I'm capable of."

There was silence as Kiria took the information in. then, he grinned. "You put up the front of being an unassuming individual, despite the evidence of a… colourful past. You really are an interesting individual, eh, Konjyoyaki-san?" Kiria spoke, referencing the signs of conflict covering the taller man's body.

The scarred man kept silent, eyeing the boy as he struggled to get up. He finally got to his feet and dusted off his jacket with his good hand. He chuckled some.

"You were here the whole time, weren't you? Why didn't you help the girl? Why didn't you help the witch earlier?"

"Moka-san's fate is of little consequence to me. Besides, if I helped, it would be even more obvious that I was on to him. As for Ruby-san… it was obvious you wouldn't kill her. You weren't aware of my presence and needed someone to pass on the information of Moka's capture. In the end, I was right. So, why don't you tell me everything you know?"

"Now, why would I do that?" Konjyoyaki's eye narrowed. Before Kiria understood what was happening, the man was behind him, twisting his good arm to the point that the bones were creaking. Kiria winced.

"I believe you are in no position to question me. Now, you know there are a few ways this could play out, only one benefits us both. Your lucky I'm being generous and that I need you alive. Now, you know what I'm looking for. Where is he, and what is he having Hokuto-san do?" the grip loosened, and Kiria just smirked. This was interesting.

/

Naruto's feelings were… conflicted, to say the least. Here he was, lying on the ground with multiple stab wounds, watching a person who he thought he could beat effortlessly any day of the week take on a guy who he couldn't seem to injure. To be fair, Tsukune couldn't really seem to hit the guy to begin with, but he kept getting up after every hit.

Now, Naruto was appreciative that someone was delaying Hokuto while he healed, but Tsukune injuries were more numerous, blood covering him and matting down his hair, yet he didn't take a break. He kept fighting. Why did he seem so much weaker? Was it the vampire blood Tsukune had? But, hadn't he defeated him while he used his powers?

'While that's true, you were also using four tails of chakra, and almost killed your friends.'

'Kyuubi? Shouldn't you be healing me? And, while that's true, I also took him out easily.'

'That's not the point. Either way, I don't know why, but this guy's attacks are affecting you like nothing I've seen before. Don't worry though, this won't take much longer.'

'That's not good enough.' With that, Naruto struggled to sit up, his body screaming at him to stop along with the Kyuubi.

'What are you doing? If you force yourself like this, you'll end up harming yourself even more! Don't be stupid a wait until I'm done!'

'No! I need to help!' by this time, Naruto got to his feet, swaying heavily. He almost screamed. Everything ached. 'Fight through the pain! C'mon!' the blonde's urgency only increased as he heard some conversation going on between his friends.

"At this rate, Tsukune's demonic energy will consume him and he'll turn into a ghoul!"

"Well we can't just stand around and do nothing! We need to help!" Naruto quickly rounded on them, wincing at the motion.

"No! I told you to stay out of this! Do you want to die?"

"Your willing to risk your life to stop this guy, why shouldn't we? You need help!"

"I'm willing to risk my life because I can't die, okay! I'll be forced to watch everyone I care for pass me by because of a choice I made! I can give it all, but I don't want to see you all die this soon! Is that what you wanted to hear! I shouldn't have to justify myself!" everyone was quiet as Naruto yelled at them. He realized it was wrong, but they needed to understand that they had no place in this fight." Now, if you want to help, go find Moka!" and that was that as he began to limp to the fight. He knew he might just get in the way, but he needed to try and help.

He only got a little ways to the fight before he heard the door open behind him. In fact, everyone looked. "You can stop now, I'll take it from here." Naruto only saw a shadow, but he recognized the voice.

"Impossible! What are you doing here?" the figure stepped into the light, revealing Moka's vampire form.

'But how is that possible. Nobody removed the rosar-" Naruto stopped, noticing the object in question hanging broken from its chain. 'So that's it. She broke it to help us. She really is something else.' Naruto could have collapsed in joy right there, but refused to. He remained standing as Kyuubi continued to work to heal him.

"Moka-san!" a few people said collectively, surprised. Tsukune also seemed to notice the strangeness of the situation. The vampire just said that she would explain after the fight.

"What happened to Kiria?" that was all Hokuto said. "He was supposed to be with you, so where is he now?"

"Hmm, he's probably unconscious on a grave somewhere on that hill, maybe waiting to be buried. You're the only one left now, Kageshiro-san." Hokuto just stared at Moka, tilting his head a bit. However, this exposed something to Naruto.

'Wait, what's that on his neck? Is that a vein? How long has that been there? And it looks like the one that appears when Tsukune goes into ghoul form. But, why would that happen to him? Unless… he wasn't originally a monster, like Tsukune!' Hokuto also seemed to notice the vein, 'tsk'ing a bit.

"Why do you keep opposing me?" the boy asked. "Especially you, Tsukune-kun. Weren't you originally human?" Tsukune's eyes widened at that. Hokuto continued as he held the chairman's rosary in front of his face. "Therefore, what reason do you have to protect this academy? Sure, the following conflict may effect you, but that may still be a ways off."

That being said, a seal appeared under the boy's feet, glowing brightly as he began to sink into the ground. Everyone's eyes widened. "How do you know how to…" Tsukune didn't finish, Hokuto cutting him off.

"I have my own reasons to risk everything, just to destroy this school. You could never understand." As he said that, Hokuto shot a glance to Naruto, one that told the blonde that the man knew something. What, he didn't know. "Stop trying to hinder me, you're only delaying the inevitable."

Soon, only his head was visible, and Naruto decided to speak up. "Um, he's escaping. Shouldn't we stop him?"

"He's right!" Moka dived after him, jumping into the light as he disappeared.

"Moka, wait!" Tsukune, despite his injured form, followed her, grabbing on as she went into the floor. Naruto wasn't far behind, grabbing onto the boy's ankle as he was sucked into the ground. After that, he couldn't really hear or see anything, but he felt something grab onto his own ankle.

The only thing Naruto really knew was that it was dark after that. He stood up slowly, and when he was confidently that he wasn't going to fall over, he stood up completely. Now that he thought about it, his body felt almost good as new. He was only slightly tired.

Eye's adjusting to the darkness, he quickly looked around. He saw numerous pillars first off, stretching high into the darkness. Turning around, he saw everyone else. They apparently had gotten a hold of each other after grabbing him.

"What is this place?" asked one of them in awe. No one answered. However, Naruto had more pressing matters to attend to.

"Why are you here? I told you to stay out of this fight."

Kurumu turned to him, this time he could actually make out who said what. "I don't recall anyone putting you in charge. Why would we listen to you? Besides, we're sick of sitting around. We can fight, too, so let us help our friends!"

Naruto growled at thee girl. "I'm giving order because I know what I'm doing. I've been fighting for my life since I was four, and I know how dangerous this can be." For a while, Naruto was silent, letting everyone absorb the information. In the end, he just sighed though. "But you're right, I can see we need help. Just try not to die! Now, let's go!"

"One problem," Naruto turned, seeing Moka with her arms crossed over her chest, "Where is Hokuto?"

"You guys actually followed me. I'm amazed, to tell you the truth. And you're all here." Everyone turned, seeing Hokuto emerging from the darkness. "To clear up any questions, this is the Everlasting Alter of Darkness, located in the basement of Youkai Academy." Despite himself, Naruto couldn't stop himself from thinking Hokuto sounded just a bit like a tour guide. "It's the heart of the school."

As he said that, light appeared around him, showing several consoles, veins of electricity glowing bright as it banished the shadows as best they could. Soon, lights on the floor also showed themselves, increasing the visibility. However, it was obvious that the room stretched for quite a bit more, way more than he had any hope of seeing.

"My plan is perfect you know. Forming Anti-thesis, using you all, stealing the rosary. All for the destruction of this wretched academy! You were the only real miscalculation, Tsukune-kun. I never thought you would get here. I also never thought Kiria would be defeated. Truthfully, I never wanted you to know that this place existed. However, none of that matters now. The results will be the same." Hokuto grinned, showing the rosary to everyone as he held it up in preparation. "All I need to do is insert this key… and the Grand Barrier will disappear, allowing Youkai Academy to be summoned to the human world!"

"You were buying time by telling all of us this, weren't you?" Moka screamed. Hokuto's superior smirk told the girl that she was right.

"It's too late! I've won!" with that, Hokuto slammed the rosary down into the consol in front of him.

"Shit!" Naruto screamed, noticing the energy flux in the chamber. "Come on! We might still have a chance to reverse this, but we need to hurry!" with that, Naruto burst forward, the others following close behind. However, everyone's eyes widened as they saw the blonde rocket sideways, an object impacting his face.

"Naruto-kun!" Mizore yelled, attempting to go after him. However, she was grabbed by Zetsu.

"No time! He can handle himself, but we need to focus on the bigger threat right now!" Mizore just gazed into her friend's yellow eyes, before reluctantly nodding. She just hoped her other friend was okay.

/

The far off sounds of destruction were disturbing to Naruto, but there were more pressing matters to attend to at the moment, even if he did worry about his friends. He needed to worry for himself right now. Yeah, a foot on your throat does that to a guy.

Thinking quickly, Naruto brought up a leg, pushing his foot into the back of the guy's knee, causing him to stumble forward slightly. But it was enough. Naruto used the leverage, escaping from underneath the man and going under him, kicking him in the back on the way. His cloak billowed behind him from the sudden movement.

"What was the point of that? You're not going back over there, and you're not escaping me, so why can't you just accept that?"

Naruto growled. "Why can't you just make up your mind about whether or not I'm your enemy? I thought we could finally just be friends, so why did you have to attack me, Kon?" Naruto went in for another blow, but only caught the coat as the man dodged to the side.

The blonde wouldn't give up though, aiming a punch at the man's scarred face. He once again dodged. As per usual, he didn't speak, just stared. It was unnerving, that orange gaze.

"Say something, damnit!" another punch, another miss. So angered was Naruto that he didn't even think to draw a weapon, he used no jutsu. As he went in for another try, he found his wrist in a vice-like grip. The man flipped over his head, popping Naruto's arm out of place as he used his back as a springboard, sending Naruto stumbling.

Grabbing his shoulder, the blonde roughly set it back in place. This wasn't good, for some reason his recent injuries were acting up. His attention was drawn from that issue, however, as the man spoke. "We don't have to fight, you know. I just can't have you fighting Hokuto."

"What are you going on about now? I need to protect my friends, you know that!"

"Like you protected Haku?" the man raised an eyebrow. Naruto froze as he looked down, before his whole body started trembling. "Zetsu told me everything, don't worry, but I believe we have more pressing matters."

Naruto looked up, his eyes red as he unconsciously drew upon Kyuubi's chakra. "What do you mean? And why can't I help my friends."

"I talked to Kiria, you know," the man continued on, unperturbed by Naruto's outburst. "He told me some interesting things. You know, there's a reason that I can't have you attacking Hokuto, you'd probably kill him. I can't have that, for reasons that have no place being spoken here."

"Wait, what did Kiria tell you?" asked Naruto, annoyed with how this man constantly changed topics.

"Ahh, finally paying attention to the big picture, are we? Tell me, has Hokuto told you that he's had any help?"

Naruto was surprised by the question, before thinking back. "Yeah, he said he had a beneficiary." Quickly, Naruto grew angry.

"You no doubt have a suspicion on who it is, right? Hokuto probably taunted you with the information."

"Yes, well," at that moment, Naruto's eyes widened, a realization coming to him. "Wait, you know who he is? You've met him?"

"Naruto! Not now!" the blonde's mouth closed, watching as the man stepped forward, his features becoming more clear, like his goatee and eye patch. "However, you could say that I've met him, but, the point is that he's here, and he's been influencing Hokuto this whole time."

"I still don't see the point. Doesn't that give me more of a reason to kill him?"

"No, it doesn't. I have a better idea in mind, but it will take time. But that's not the point. Listen, this guy, he knows things. Many things. And he's always curious, wanting to learn more. He's been performing numerous experiments recently, but I don't know for how long, and I fear that he plans to bring about the end of the world. Not just this one, but all of them."

Naruto was quiet, trying to wrap his head around all of this information. The cloaked man, the one that killed Haku. He really was here? He was performing experiments? Is that what happened to Yakasu? Was that the reason the man died? And he wanted to destroy everything? But, how did Konjyoyaki know this? How did he know the man? He needed information.

"Wait, where is he? Maybe we can stop him!" Naruto watched as Konjyoyaki just shook his head.

"I'm afraid not. I already infiltrated his hideout on campus and found that he was gone. There was no evidence indicating where he went. Then again, I suppose that's a good thing. I doubt I could have fought him and won."

Now that was a shock. Someone Konjyoyaki couldn't effortlessly beat? Then what would happen to him if he tried to fight him? That didn't do anything to make Naruto feel better. It meant that he might never avenge Haku.

Idly, Naruto noticed that the sounds of battle had stopped and that the far off light had dimmed quite a bit. Konjyoyaki confirmed his thoughts. "Hmm, the fight's over, and it appears that your friends have come out on top. The only answer is that Tsukune-san managed to turn Hokuto off of his path. That's… good." the blonde wondered how he knew that and, for a second, Naruto thought that he saw a proud smile on the man's face. But when hr blinked, it was gone.

Naruto thought that it was an illusion, that his eyes were mistaken. Why would Konjyoyaki be proud? Before he could think on the subject, Konjyoyaki turned away. "Wait, what do we do now? Why did you tell me this if we can't do anything?"

"As I said, I needed to keep you distracted and out of the fight. Hokuto must live." Naruto opened his mouth, wondering if anything he hand been told was true. Konjyoyaki put his mind at ease. "What I told you was true, though. Keep in mind that there is something bigger than us in the works, something that threatens all life. You must prepare yourself, Naruto. You may be the only hope we have."

Before anymore could be said, Konjyoyaki vanished into the darkness. Naruto would never know how he did this, what with wearing mostly white and the light that his ever-present cigarette gave off. Regardless, Naruto made his way to his friends last know position. But, for some reason, Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that he hadn't been told everything, and that Konjyoyaki had a more intimate knowledge of this man and his plan than Naruto could ever hope to know.

/

And there you have it. What do you think, hmm? Truly, despite not wanting to admit it, your reviews are all that keep me going at times. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy writing, and I don't really care if it's not quite widely recognized, but sometimes I just find myself getting depressed at random times. Happens whenever I think about life. Fuck, life is depressing, isn't it? Ahh, screw it, no time to sit around acting like a whiny bitch, let's move onto that note I mention earlier, shall we?

'Kay, so, this is regarding next chapter. Basically, it will be what I call a 'bullshit sandwich', with a planned beginning and ending, but a middle that I will just play by ear. Although, I already have a rough idea of what it will entail. Now, what I need from you, the viewers of this joyous fanfiction (and at this point, I'm assuming that you derive some amount of joy from my writings), are song ideas.

Now, first let me give you some information. I really don't care what song it is, as I want you all to have a chance to participate in this, and you will be recognized if I pick your song, but keep in mind that it will be Konjyoyaki who will be singing your songs. Why Konjyoyaki? Because he has a tendency to get festive during celebrations, that's why! So, try to pick something you can imagine him singing if you participate. Remember, he enjoys annoying Naruto through blatancy with hidden meanings in it. If you can't think of an appropriate match, input your idea anyway, and I like your train of thought… I'll think of something. Maybe an omake. Believe it or not, this is actually to further the plot. Also, next chapter won't come out until at least two of you participate. Sure, I could think of songs myself, but I don't really wanna'. I'm being a douche; deal with it. So, the sooner you get in your opinions, the faster the chapter comes out. See how that works? Top five (if there are that many of you) get in.

What is Konjyoyaki planning for Hokuto? What is his relation to the cloaked man, and how does he know him so well? Will Naruto ever see the full picture, or has it been in front of him the whole time? And, with the school festival right around the bend, will anything else pop up to ruin Naruto's chance to finally relax a bit? All this and more answered… eventually. That being said, this has been another chapter from your fellow author, Acolyte of Truth! This chapter was 12,594 words long!


	14. Sweet Symphony

Hey folks, here I am, ready to bestow onto you chapter 14 of this story. I would have gotten it out sooner, but I have an excu-… umm, reason why it wasn't posted until now. You see, I was out camping in the great wilderness of northern Maine, land of blueberries, lobster, and potatoes, along with apparently pottery and Russian maids. Okay, that's a lie. I was stuck in a hotel with my family, confined to a futon in the main living area before I resorted to sleeping in the backseat of the car for four days. But enough about me, onto more important things.

First off, thanks to everyone who participated last chapter. Among you are Skittlekick, Lykaos, Nasha Rei-kun, and reven228. Unfortunately, I discovered that not many of you really got it. It was about Konjyoyaki singing, not Naruto, and I really didn't feel like using Japanese songs. I probably should have stated that earlier. In the end, I decided to just pick songs that involved foreshadowing, so they may not make sense now. Regardless, thank you for the ideas, and I'll try to lay everything out better in the future.

Also, I got an anonymous review from someone calling themselves RandomName35, asking a great question. That was, if Naruto's like Hidan, why doesn't he seem to use the ritual every chance he can. I am happy to say that your questions will be answered in chapter 16, so hang tight if you're still with me. And before I forget, thanks go out to Lykaos for being my ever-so-faithful beta.

/

Disclaimer: I own none of the copyrighted properties found in this fanfiction, particularly in this chapter. What that entails will not be further addressed in detail during chapter so as to not give away any information found within its confines.

/

Chapter 14: Sweet Symphony

Hokuto sat in his hospital bed, just staring at the ceiling, playing back his last conscious hours in his head over and over, trying to figure out why he did what he did. He had given up on his dreams, his aspirations, what he really wanted, while those who opposed him were virtually helpless to stop his scheme.

But why? Why would he forsake everything he worked years for? He knew it was because of Tsukune, him and his stupid speech, his determination, his genuine care for his friends' well being, but what made him listen to the guy? In the end he was just human, nothing without his friends to protect him. And yet, he had chosen to listen to what he said. Why?

Deep down, he knew why. It was a mixture of things, actually. He was jealous. He envied that the boy had gained what Hokuto himself had always wanted. Tsukune had the acknowledgement, the respect, the love of his friends, despite being human, despite being in the exact same situation Hokuto was. That was part of why Hokuto listened. He hoped that maybe, he would gain a true friend from that.

Glancing over to his right, Hokuto saw Kiria sitting by his bed, reading his book. Kiria had given him power to stand up for himself, to fight for what he thought he wanted. Kiria was his one true friend. That was why he had gone through with his plan, to keep his friend interested. To make sure the boy wouldn't abandon him like everyone else. Of course, he knew that had little chance of happening now. Kiria had been by his side ever since he had woken up. Hokuto let a small, genuine smile come to his face.

However, it was more than petty envy. The whole plan to destroy Youkai Academy wasn't his idea to begin with. It was that man in the cloak. He had approached Hokuto a few years ago, when he was only a first year student at the school. The man had appeared after a particularly nasty beating, one that he had emerged from on top, the dead bodies of his assailants scattered around him.

He had seemed mild-mannered at first glance, helping to treat his injuries and asking for nothing in return. He had disappeared after that, only to return shortly after he met Kiria. He had told him about a plan, one to over throw the whole world into chaos through the destruction of the barrier surrounding the school, one that could help grant him revenge, one that supposedly couldn't work without him.

Truthfully, Hokuto didn't want revenge back then. As childish as it was, he only wanted to be accepted, like he felt Kiria had accepted him and helped him grow stronger. But the man had twisted him, his beliefs, made him think Kiria would abandon him if he didn't take action against those who ostracized him. And who soon went along with it, listening to the man's whispers in his ears.

The man had him become a model student, a person above all suspicion of any heinous act, someone who could get away with anything as long as he didn't blatantly overstep any obvious boundaries. And Hokuto soon found himself fully behind the man, helping to come up and implement the plan, adjusting details as new people were factored in and taken out.

He didn't know when, but at some point along the line, he had become slightly paranoid, becoming weary of the man he knew more than nothing about. He began to take everything that was told to him with a grain of salt, even keeping Kiria at an arms length. As sad as it was, there were points in time where he found his friend almost expendable if it weren't for the fact that he was the figurehead of Anti-thesis.

Yet now, all that was behind him. Anti-thesis was pretty much gone, the plan he had helped work years on was foiled by himself, for the fact that he felt that the things Tsukune said were partially right; he didn't need to go through with plunging the world into strife. The mysterious man he still didn't know or completely trust hadn't contacted him for nearly a week and was probably gone. And Kiria was still at his side. Thinking back on everything, it wasn't such a bad way to end things, even if he was confined to a bed and waiting punishment.

His thoughts were broken at the sound of the door to his room opening. He looked towards the noise, noticing even Kiria put his book down, both expecting to see someone there to deal with them. They were surprised to see a tall crippled brunette, and recognized him immediately.

The cloaked man had given him intel on Konjyoyaki, saying that he could pose a threat to the plan, but also saying that it was highly unlikely, given his nature to see things play out. Despite that, they should be cautious around this man, no matter what. Then again, the plan was a flop, and he most likely knew that, so why was he here?

Kiria had told him about his encounter with the man earlier, about how he demanded to know his whereabouts, about where their offices were, about how he only approached him after Akashiya escaped. Yet, the man had never showed up during the battle.

Or had he? He distinctly remembered someone kicking Uzumaki across the room during that time, a shadowed figure. At the time, he wrote it off as the mysterious man making things easier for him, but that wasn't likely now that he thought about it. But why would this man, one who was deemed a threat to everything, help him by taking an opponent out of the fight, especially when reports said that the two got along rather well? It didn't make sense.

Seeming to ignore all the attention directed at him, Konjyoyaki gently closed the door behind him and proceeded deeper into the room and stuffed his hand into his pocket, the suspicious looks following him. He stopped right in front of the window, not even paying attention to the two others in the room, just staring at his reflection in the glass before it became obscured by an exhalation of smoke. Ignored by the presence of the man, Hokuto laid back and looked to the ceiling as he regarded the man.

"Is there something we can help you with? What right do you think you have to just barge in here?" Hokuto glared at the ceiling, imagining Konjyoyaki was there as his look burned a hole through him. He heard the man grunt.

"Shut up kid. Do you know how much stress you've put me through? As far as I'm concerned, you're lucky I didn't allow Naruto into that battle so he could help rip you limb from limb." There was a moment of silence after that as Hokuto looked back over. Konjyoyaki was still staring out the window as if he was oblivious to both him and Kiria. Speaking of the blonde, he had yet to pick his book back up. He found this interaction interesting.

The man's reaction was also strange. How had he put stress on the man if he had never actually met him before? And, if he was as much trouble as the cripple said, why hadn't he allowed Uzumaki to kill him? Something didn't add up. Regardless, the oppressive silence remained, right up until Konjyoyaki turned around and started to approach Hokuto in his bed, his footfalls echoing throughout the room.

He stopped at the foot of the bed and turned to face a confused Hokuto, eyes boring into the others. "As for why I'm here… I'm here to finish what I started." There was no emotion in the man's voice as he spoke, reaching into his coat. Hokuto tensed, however. What was this man going to finish? He wasn't going to kill him; otherwise he would have just let Uzumaki do it, right?

Was he talking about Kiria? Was he going to kill the blonde? Looking to his side, he saw his friend most likely had similar thoughts, a pensive look coming across his face. That was also unlikely. Why would he make his presence know if he could have killed them both before they knew what was going on? Besides, Kiria had given the man information he wanted, he hadn't lied about anything, so that was another strike for that idea. So why was he here? What was he finishing, then?

His questions were soon answered as Konjyoyaki pulled a file from the folds of his coat and tossed it on the bed. It was surprisingly thick and landed with a thump on Hokuto's covered legs. Hesitant, he grabbed the file and just looked at the manila covering. Looking back up with many questions in his head, he saw the man already at the door, his hand on the handle.

"Wait," said Hokuto, causing Konjyoyaki to stop leaving at the moment. Seeing this, he continued. "Why did you help us? Why are you letting us live? And what's with this file?" Hokuto's voice became louder as he continued on, wanting answers. For his part, Konjyoyaki was unfazed.

"The answers to all of your questions and then some are in that file there. I can tell you now that the reasons are personal an das to what else is in that file… there are some DNA tests, notes, journals, general information and general evidence to help you believe what is in that file."

Hokuto was slightly shock at the answers give. Why would there be DNA tests? What did these notes and journals have to do with anything? Why was this guy giving him so much information? Before he could ask, he was cut off.

"Just read the damn files. Also, Kiria, make sure you get Hokuto out of here before it's too late; try for a time during the festival. After that, you can do whatever you want. But please, try to do the right thing you two; the future may depend on it." before either of the two could question him, he was out the door.

Kiria quickly got up and followed him, looking out into the hallway. He came back to his friend soon after, a strange look on his face Hokuto wasn't used to seeing, something he couldn't identify. "He's gone," was all he said.

Hokuto looked to his friend, then to the space Konjyoyaki previously occupied, and finally to the file. Seeing no point in putting it off any longer, he quickly undid the rubber band holding the file closed and began to go through it. The first thing he saw was a note that caused his eyes to widen quite a bit.

Kiria, seeing this, was soon by his friend's side, curious to what had affected him so. What he read was certainly a surprise. It was a simply note entitled, _Too my dearest Imotou._

/

"So wait, let me get this straight," spoke Naruto, almost unbelieving of the whole thing. Everyone was currently in the hospital… again. They seemed to be spending most of their time here lately. Everyone was being treated for at least simple scrapes and bruises from their fight with Hokuto.

It was unsurprising really that Zetsu was the least injured of all; he was a trained professional after all, he had experience. More unsurprising than that, Tsukune was the most injured of all, suffering from several deep gashed and fractured ribs. He was doing fine, though, and would be up and running before the festival started.

Naruto himself was defiantly one of the more injured people when he first returned to the group. And was quickly wrapped in a hug from Mizore after the girl saw his injured state, causing both to blush a bit afterwards and the others to smile at the two of them. Thanks to Kyuubi, though, he was quickly healed up and good as new, if a little exhausted.

Soon after, a group of the chairman's helpers rushed in and quickly secured Hokuto while some escorted the others quickly to the hospital to get patched up and receive thanks from the chairman himself for practically saving the world. As to show appreciation, he gladly fixed Moka's seal, so she was now once again in her pink-haired form. All in all, things could have gone much worse, which is why Naruto wanted details on what exactly happened.

The blonde continued, intent on getting some clarity. "Hokuto was apparently a human who came here by mistake, much like Tsukune, and he was bullied day in and day out, where as Tsukune had help from you guys. Hokuto grew tired of this and somehow got monster blood injected into him and could control it better than you. In the end, he wanted to destroy the school to get back at those who wronged him here and in the human world. However, after beginning to lower the barrier, he transformed and you guys beat him and Tsukune gave a little speech, after which you all learned that to restore the barrier you needed to channel your power into the 'key' or whatever. However, you were all too weak from the fight and didn't have enough energy to get the job done. Tsukune, as stubborn as he is, didn't quit and seeing that, combined with his speech from earlier, cause Hokuto to have a change of heart and go against what he spent potentially years planning and help you guys restore the barrier. Then, due to weakness, Hokuto fell unconscious and I showed up soon after. Is that what I'm to assume happened?"

There was a brief silence where everyone in the room shared a look, then started nodding. "Yep."

"You pretty much hit the nail on the head."

"That sums everything up rather nicely."

"You got it."

"That's right."

"Uh-huh."

Naruto just stared before letting out a breath and woefully shaking his head. "That's fucked up." He was met with nods of agreement.

"So what about you?" Naruto looked up to see that it was Mizore who spoke. "We saw you get sent flying away, so what happened?"

Momentarily, the blonde thought about telling the truth, but quickly decided against it. He doubted many of the people there would believe him, and it may just cause problems down the road. That left Naruto to make something up on the spot.

"Well you see," he started off, a bit unsure of himself, "It's like this. I don't actually know what happened." At the questioning looks he received, he decided to elaborate. "Whoever attacked me stuck to the shadows and didn't ever show themselves. They just kept kicking me from random directions and stopped me from helping you guys. Apparently, after you guys defeated Hokuto, the person just stopped, like they only wanted to keep me out of the fight. I don't know, sounds weird, right?" everyone just shook their heads, but nonetheless believing the blonde's story.

"So what happens now?" everyone turned to Tsukune who was once again confined to a hospital bed. They had to admit, it was a good question. There were seemingly many loose ends yet to be tied, such as what to do about Anti-thesis, what would happen to Hokuto, what about the committee survivors? Many questions that the chairman could easily answer.

"Well, one things for sure. You guys all deserve a break. I will inform all of your teachers that you will be taking the next two days off to recover from your duty to this school. As we speak, my agents are rounding up known members of Anti-thesis that took active parts in terrorism of the student body. As for what will happen to Hokuto… well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there." The chairman just smiled, not really doing much to put the children at ease.

"Wait a minute, what about the members of the committee that survived? How are they doing?" Tsukune turned in his bed to directly face the chairman. His heart sank when he saw the man's usual grin slip. Naruto too was a bit distraught. They may have been strange, but those guys didn't deserve to die.

"Unfortunately, from the three survivors that Uzumaki-kun here brought back," The chairman waved his hand in Naruto's general direction to further get the point across, "only one is still alive, and she remains in critical condition. As we speak, it's a touch and go situation with little chance of survival. I'm sorry."

Tsukune just looked down, his hands gripping the sheets in anger at what had happened. He may not have known those people personally, but no one deserved what had happened to them. Naruto, on the other hand, could think of a few people who deserved it, none of them being the ones who got it. It was a solemn moment as everyone digested the information, sorry for those whop were lost.

It was the chairman who broke the silence. "You guys should really get some rest, you really exerted yourselves today. Tsukune-kun will stay the night so that the doctors can monitor his condition, but I'll let the nurses know that you have special permission to visit him tomarrow. Now come on, let's go." with that, everyone reluctantly left the room, leaving Tsukune alone with some beeping machines.

/

A few days passed, and it was now the day before the school festival. The whole gang was gathered in the newspaper club's room, just sort of relaxing, having all their duties for the upcoming day done. At this point, everyone was pretty much doing whatever they wanted.

Moka and Kurumu were basically talking about this and that, getting along perfectly fine. Yukari and Tsukune, who had gotten out of the hospital a few days ago and gotten rid of his crutches the day before, were currently witnessing a paper football match of epic proportions. Zetsu and Gin had been going at it for nearly an hour and a half now, both with steely determination glowing in their eyes. The current score was twenty-three wins to twenty-one in favor of Zetsu, with each game having a score cap of thirty points.

Gin stared down Zetsu, bravely staring into the bi-coloured man in disguise's yellow eyes, fighting the man's attempt to intimidate him at least a little, to make him falter. Zetsu was unsuccessful. Taking a deep breath through his nose, Gin finally flicked his finger, sending the paper triangle twirling through Zetsu's upturned fingers and straight into his forehead.

Zetsu just growled as Gin jumped up, pumping his fists in victory and sending his chair sprawling backwards. "Oh yeah!" he shouted, happy about closing the gap in the score a bit more.

"I'm still winning you know." The reality of what Zetsu said hit Gin like a wet fish to the face. He quickly sobered up, a serious expression on his face as he righted his chair and sat down, a predatory grin soon coming to his face.

"Bring it, then. I'll whup yo' ass." And so the forty-sixth game between these two titans of paper football began. So yes, all was good on this relatively relaxing day. However, there was one bit of strangeness going on in the room, drawing most attention to the individuals causing it and allowing Gin to get another point against Zetsu, much to his annoyance.

"W-what did you say?" asked Naruto, unsure of himself. There's no way he could have heard her correctly, no way that she said what he thought she said. She probably meant something else.

"I asked if you would be my temporary boyfriend for the festival tomorrow," said Mizore, her face flushing a deep red. Naruto's face did too; he had apparently heard her correctly.

"Well, may I ask why?" Naruto was feeling a whirlwind of emotions right now, some more prominent than the others. There was joy, happy that Mizore had picked him over everyone else. There was some despair, realizing that it was just a ruse and just for a day. However, chief among all was worry. Mizore was his best friend, and he would never do anything to jeopardize that relationship. This stunt could very well make things more awkward between the two, but couldn't see anything wrong with it since they didn't have booth duty until day three of the festival with Tsukune.

Looking away slightly in embarrassment, Mizore told her friend why he needed to at least pretend to be her boyfriend. "Well, during the beginning of the year, I sent my mother a picture of you to show her I was making friends. Apparently she mistook the situation and made you out to be my boyfriend. I didn't have the heart to tell her that she was wrong, and now she is coming to visit tomorrow and expects to see me with you as a happy couple. Please, Naruto-kun, I need your help."

Mizore, of course, had purposely forgotten to mention that she had actually told her mother that Naruto was her boyfriend, or, at least, she wanted him to be, which her mother interpreted as her saying he was. It just would have been even more awkward if she had said that. So now she was stuck waiting for an answer, nervously chewing on he sucker and hoping beyond hope that Naruto said yes.

For the blonde, it was a choice that required no thinking. "Mizore-chan, as long as I have known you, you've always been there for me and my problems. As far as I'm concerned, this is the absolute least I can do to help you. Of course I'm gonna' say yes." Naruto gave the girl a reassuring grin, causing her to also smile. Yes, he would never do anything to injure his relationship with his closest friend. And he realized that it was time to move on from his old life and relationships, even if this new romance was technically fake.

Mizore quickly ran towards the boy before embracing him in a quick hug around the neck. Naruto was caught slightly off guard and stumbled a bit before quickly reciprocating the display of affection. Everyone else in the room was happy for the two and went back to doing their previous activities, with Moka and Kurumu going to watch the spectacle that was the paper football match of all time. Meanwhile, Naruto may not have known what the next day would entitle, but he knew it would certainly be eventful.

/

The sound of the alarm buzzing got Naruto to rise from his bed with a jolt. He quickly slammed his hand down on the contraption and silenced it. Still a bit groggy, the blonde turned to look out the window in his room to see that the sun had yet to come up above the horizon even a bit. Taking a look at the alarm, he saw it read 4:56 now. Why in Jashin's name had he set himself to wake at such an hour?

That thought in mind, Naruto was prepared to go back to sleep, when, with a jolt of realization, he remembered why he had woken up so early. He was supposed to meet Mizore at six outside the girls' dorm so they could go and see what the booths had to offer before everyone, including Mizore's mother, arrived at 8:30. Seeing that Naruto now had roughly an hour and two minutes before he was to meet his girlfriend-for-the-day, Naruto got to work getting ready.

Within twenty minutes, Naruto was completely ready and, seeing that he still had about forty minute's left, wondered again why he had set his alarm so early. He quickly came to the conclusion that he was used to doing some early morning training, but felt like just relaxing today. And really, Naruto deserved it. Anti-thesis was taken care of, no one seemed to want to kick his ass or eat his head off, and, while it was disconcerting to know that the cloaked man had been here, he was apparently gone, and he was just going to have fun with his best friend and her mother today damnit!

However, with nothing to do, the blonde was forced to just sit on the couch to pass some time. Thankfully, Kyuubi sensed the boy's plight and decided to help him out a bit. _**'You know, I think that it's great you're finally moving on with your life. Good for you!'**_

'_Thanks Kyuubi,'_ Naruto said with a mental sigh, _'but you know this date thing is fake and only for the sake of Mizore-chan's mother, right?'_

'Granted, but you never know, it would turn real with time. Regardless, it's nice to see you getting over Haku, you know?'

'Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I still miss and love Haku-chan, but I think that I can finally accept that she is dead and that there was little I could do to actually save her.'

'Aww, isn't that cute? You're maturing. And to think, you used to be such a naïve little brat when I first talked to you. I can still remember when we first met. You were all like, 'Holy shit! You're the Kyuubi! But you're supposed to be dead! Oh shit! I'm in hell, aren't I?' Hahaha! Good times kid, good times.' Kyuubi continued to laugh as he thought back on the past while Naruto just grew a little pissed.

'_Shut up! That was years ago!'_

'_**Thirteen years ago, to be exact.' **_Naruto was a bit confused by that, before realization hit him like a large semi.

'Holy shit, that's right. My birthday wasn't all too long ago.'

'_**You got it.'**_ Kyuubi grinned. _**'I was wondering how long it would take you to remember. Hell, if I hadn't given you a hint, it would probably still be six months until you realized it. For what it's worth, happy belated seventeenth.' **_With that, Kyuubi conjured up a party blower and hat and let loose a blow on the thing as confetti fell fro the ceiling of the mindscape.

Naruto chuckled at the mental image. _'Hey, don't blame me, a lot was going on and I didn't exactly have the leisure time to remember.'_

'I guess you're right. If I remember correctly, which I do, it was during all that shit where you were forced to help kidnap the pink-haired girl or something.'

'_Yeah, that's right.'_ Taking a pause to look at the clock, Naruto decided that now would be a good time to start his trek to the girls' dorm, especially since now the sun was out. Getting off the couch, Naruto sent a goodbye to his mentally manifested furry friend. _'Well, it's been fun talking to you Kyuubi, but I should probably head out now.'_

'Sure. But, before you go, please, allow me to part some of my infinite knowledge unto you for today's special occasion. Consider it a birthday present.'

'Sure, lay it on me,' said Naruto, curious as to what Kyuubi had to tell him.

It was silent for a moment, before Kyuubi roared at him to get his point across, virtually lighting his head on fire and causing Naruto to grasp his skull from the pain, 'DON'T FORGET THE FUCKING CONDOM!' with that, Kyuubi cut off the mental link with a snicker, leaving Naruto's ears ringing.

"Son of a fucking bitch!" Naruto swore, both from the pain and the implications of what Kyuubi said, along with the subsequent mental images that followed, causing Naruto to blush crimson. To be fair, though, he really should have seen that coming. "Bastard!" Naruto knew that the Kyuubi could hear him; he fucking knew it, and that made him feel slightly better. Regardless, Naruto grabbed his wallet off the counter and locked his dorm room before beginning his journey, hoping his blush would subside by the time he got to his destination.

/

Indeed, the blonde's blush had vanished at some point during his uneventful journey to the girl's dormitory. After all, what would happen? The dorms were, like, maybe one thousand feet apart, and that was being generous. The point is, nothing happened, much to the relief of Naruto.

When he finally got close enough, he spied Mizore standing outside in front of the building. Naruto jogged up to the girl, not wanting to keep her waiting. "Hey, Mizore-chan," the blonde spoke, waving, causing his 'girlfriend' to look up at him, a small smile coming to her face. "I didn't keep you waiting, did I?"

"No," said the girl, shaking her head slightly, "I just decided to come out here early. It's so much more calm in the morning, isn't it?" as Naruto looked around, he had to agree with the girl. It was quiet, with most animals either sleeping or being in no real hurry to do anything. Sure, there were some birds that could be heard in the distance, but that didn't detract from the sense of peace Naruto felt.

Blinking, the blonde shook his head a bit to rid himself of this feeling, even if he could stay like that for a while. The two did have things to do after all, even if they did have a bit of time. "Hey, we should probably get going."

The purple-haired girl just nodded, smile on her face. "Sure, let's get going." And with that being said, Mizore wasted no time in grabbing Naruto's hand, slightly surprising the Jashinist. The girl answered the unasked question. "We need to look like a believable couple, don't we? And I know my mother isn't here yet, but we should at least get used to it, wouldn't you say?"

Mizore had a slight blush on her face now, matching Naruto's perfectly, as she tried to convince the boy to just go with it. Naruto, really not seeing a flaw in the girl's reasoning, and not wanting to make worse of an already awkward situation, nodded. "I see your point. Okay, let's go."

And so the two walk off to where the festival was to be held, side by side and hand in hand.

/

Many would have likened the festival grounds to a terrorized town in an old western movie. The path Naruto and Mizore walked upon kicked up a bit of dust as they looked around at the booths, adding to the light early morning mist already in the air. Many of them were complete though abandoned, as not many people would be willing to be up this early in the morning if they could help it. However, a few booths were still not quite ready, the owners of them either working on them tirelessly as the two walked through the rows, or figuring they could finish it later before the alumni showed up.

As Naruto took in the sights, he noticed that most of the booths for classes were games you would find at the common carnival, even offering prizes to the winners of such games. The blonde also notice, much to his delight, that the price to play was incredibly cheap, meaning that he wouldn't blow the remaining funds he brought from his world. It brought a small smile to his face.

Most of the clubs, meanwhile, were doing demonstrations that would help promote themselves amongst others. For example, he knew that his own club was doing a sort of maid café thing. They would serve drinks while dressed up as maids in the girls' case, while him and the other males would be dressed as waiters. Humiliating, yes, but it would attract attention.

As he thought about it, Naruto remembered that only Zetsu and Gin would be on duty today. Not the best of ideas, he thought, considering how they had been acting lately. Naruto doubted that they would hand out many copies of the special edition paper they had made, one he was forced to edit once the whole Anti-thesis bullshit was over.

Lost in his thoughts as the blonde was, he didn't take notice of the person coming around the corner. That is, until the two bodies crashed into each other. "What the…?" the blonde said as he stumbled back a bit. The other person wasn't so fortunate, however, and fell flat on their ass. Naruto recognized him immediately. "Tsukune? What are you doing here?"

At hearing the voice, the brunette looked up, surprised. "Naruto?" within seconds of the two bumping into each other, who else but Yukari, Kurumu, and Moka should appear at the boy's side to help him up. He grinned at seeing his blonde and purple-haired friends.

Kurumu, being the perceptive person that she naturally is, also grinned, though for a different reason entirely. "Well, it seems as if you two are getting along rather well without us, aren't you?" the busty girl, of course, was indicating to Naruto and Mizore's cupped hands. "I wonder what would happen if you two were always unsupervised."

Naruto probably would have gotten annoyed with the blue-haired girl's perverted overtone and smile, but, as it was, both he and Mizore just looked away with blushes on the face, hands still grasped. "We need to act like a believable couple. Couples hold hands, don't they?" asked Naruto. By now, everyone had at least a slight grin at their friend's expense.

"Suuuure." Kurumu stretched out the word, just worsening the blush on the two friends' faces. Before either one could come up with a rebuttal, a strange sound came from near the center of the grounds, one that Naruto did not quite recognize.

"What was that?" the others were shocked as well, all except for Tsukune, who thought he recognized the sound. Before he could say what he thought it was, the others were already off to investigate, Naruto and Mizore's hands coming apart as they ran.

"Hey," suddenly asked Yukari, a question forming in her mind, "when did we become the sole protectors of this school? I mean, isn't this someone's job or something?"

"Well, ever since I accidentally killed the head of the Student Safety Commission, the rest of the group kind of… disbanded. Haven't you noticed their absence?" and it was true, for unknown reasons, the commission had parted and integrated into normal school life, though with largely mixed results from students, most holding grudges against them from past transgressions.

The rest of the trip continued in silence, and when they got to their destination, they were shocked to say the least. There in front of the group was a giant stage with all these wires and electronic equipment up on it as several people worked to get whatever they were doing set up. A few others who were awake also came to see what the commotion was, but some left soon after to continue their own work.

"Sweet, there's going to be a concert?" asked Tsukune excitedly, anticipating the prospect of something he remembered from before he came to the academy. His friends just sort of stared at him, but the brunette didn't let it affect him. Naruto had some questions of his own, however.

"How the hell did we miss something this big?" it was a good question, but it was one that was cut off by an intimately familiar voice.

"Well, look who's here. Why are you up this early?" Naruto turned his head to the voice so fast that he may as well have gotten whiplash. There, standing to the blondes left up of the stage was none other than Konjyoyaki. The eye patch wearing man regarded him with his one orange eye. The stare off between the two continued, Naruto watching the man, not trusting him as much after that stunt he pulled, until the older of the two twitched at a loud voice behind him.

"Hey guys! How's it going?" a familiar witch popped up right next to Konjyoyaki on his left, hanging off his arm as the cripple didn't even seem to acknowledge her presence. A certain little girl did take notice though.

"Ruby-san!" with that, Yukari jumped up onto the stage and hugged the older girl's leg. Ruby just patted her head, knowing that she got excited whenever she made an appearance.

"So, are you guys in the concert?" asked Tsukune, causing everyone to once again turn to him. Konjyoyaki, being his ever bright and cheery self gave his predictable answer to this question.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Come on, don't be like that! This will be fun!" Rub had a smile on her face, still at the man's side.

"Umm, not to be rude or anything, but what will you be doing? It's not like you can play an instrument or anything given your… state." Tsukune was nervous as he indicated to Konjyoyaki's distinct lack of his right arm. The man just developed a slight tick in his eye.

"Are you saying that it's impossible to play drums with only one arm?" fate seemed to smile down on the boy, however, as someone appeared to spare Tsukune from answering the question.

"Well, could play the drums if, one, I wasn't playing them, and, two, you knew how to play."

"Kotsubo-sensei?" Naruto asked, shocked at the red-haired man's appearance. He received a grin in response.

"Hey Uzumaki. Good to see you finally made some friends." The blonde ignored him, however, as another person made their presence known.

"Hello everybody! What's going on here?" the new individual was a man with straight black hair that came down close to his chin. He had a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes and a strange hat on his head. His voice was also entirely too loud and over enthusiastic. Now that Naruto thought back on it, the man sort of reminded Naruto of someone from his past. Lee or something was his name. You know, in personality, not looks.

"Um, excuse me, but who are you?" asked Moka a bit timidly. The man turned his head in the pink-haired girls direction and flashed a smile.

"Forgive my manners! I am the Excellent Maki, second year English teacher here at Youkai Academy! Also bassist and back-up vocals for this concert!" with that, Maki took a bow. He was met with blank stares on all sides, ones he didn't seem to pay attention to.

"Soooo… what about you Ruby-san? Tsukune asked, breaking the awkward silence. The girl turned to him and smiled.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm playing guitar!"

"So that means…" Tsukune put the pieces together, and smiled as he came to a conclusion, proud of himself. With that, he pointed to Konjyoyaki. "You're lead vocals, right?"

Konjyoyaki gave the boy a look, not quite a glare, but a more covert form of it, filled with the same burning hatred of a normal glare though. The boy shrank in on himself from the look. Naruto, seeing the look, and realizing that his friend was right, couldn't contain it any longer. He started to laugh a long, unbelieving laugh, the irony hitting him full force.

"Hahahahahahaha, oh… oh fuck, hahahahahaha! I'm-I'm gonna' die! Hahahahahahaha!" everyone was staring at the blonde, worried as he soon started gasping for air. Once he had finally colleted himself, he turned to Konjyoyaki, the smoking man's quasi-glare now turned to him. The blonde ignored it. "How the hell did they rope you into doing something like this?" Konjyoyaki took on a distant look as he thought back on how he got here.

:Flashback:

Konjyoyaki stood in a large meeting room along with all the other staff at the school. Everyone else was sat at a large table in the middle of the room with the newly healed chairman at the head while Konjyoyaki and a few others leaned against the wall. Seeing everyone here, the chairman spoke. "Okay, so I'm sure you're all wondering why you are here, right?"

He received some nods and a few grunts of affirmation. That same creepy grin came to his face.

"Well, I have decided that this year the faculty will be throwing a concert for this years festival." With that, he pulled out a basket with folded pieces of paper in it. "What will happen is you will all take a piece of paper from this basket. Four of them have red dots on them and if you pick that one, you will be performing in the band. And before any of you protest, I know that you all have musical talent, so don't bother denying it." with that, the basket made its way around the room.

Eventually, the basket came to Konjyoyaki, and someone was kind enough to hold it while he picked out a slip of paper. Opening it, he saw that there was a red dot right in the middle of the paper, and the man let a frown come to his face.

:EndFlashback:

"I was cheated," was all he said, obviously not too happy about this turn of events. Maki soon joined in to better explain things.

"You see, we were lucky enough to win a lottery to perform in this concert. I would have gladly sang for this event, but unfortunately, Konjyoyaki-kun's condition only allows him to be eligible for that position."

"I'm missing an arm, it's not a contagious disease," Konjyoyaki cut in, annoyed that it was implied that he was sick. He continued on, still a bit peeved. "And I can still play the piano damnit."

"Yes" Ruby said, "But we can't do all songs from the 80's of whatever. We need some variety." Konjyoyaki grumbled a bit, obviously conceding to the girl's logic.

It was Kurumu who spoke next. "I still can't see how you can sing a all. I mean, with how much you smoke, I'm surprised you don't go into a coughing fit after every sentence you speak. And I doubt you can honestly hold a note for very long."

The man in question just crouched down on the stage so that him and the blue-haired were close to eye-level. Then, grasping his cigarette in between his middle and index fingers, he removed it from his mouth while letting out several smoke rings into the girl's face.

Kurumu backed up, coughing as she waved a hand in front of her face to get rid of any residual smoke before sending a teary-eyed glare at the man. Konjyoyaki just returned his cigarette to its original place and resumed his full height before stalking back near the middle of the stage.

"You don't believe I can perform? While I do dislike my position, I won't stand for someone telling me what I can and cannot do. I think you need a demonstration. Positions everybody!" with that, everyone went to their positions and got their instruments ready that a crew had helped set up.

Meanwhile, Yukari jumped off the stage and rejoined her friends as they went to where the front row center of the crowd would be located, ready to see what these guys could do.

"Remember to keep it down guys. Some people are still sleeping." And with that being said, Konjyoyaki grasped the microphone stand as everyone gave an experimental sound off of their already tuned instruments. "Okay guys, let's do the song we practiced with." And with that, they turned to the group and the still there slackers who should have been at their stands and began.

The guitar and bass began in a low and melodious tone, continuing the rhythm for a few beats. Then came in the drum, followed shortly after by Konjyoyaki's surprisingly light voice.

:It seems like every day's the same and I'm left to discover on my own:

:It seems like everything is grey and there's no colour to behold:

:They say it's over and I'm fine again, yeah:

:Try to stay sober, feels like I'm dying here:

At this point the instruments increased in intensity as the orange-eyed man sang the refrain, his voice becoming slightly more aggressive, as everyone one started bobbing to the music, Konjyoyaki just kept staring forward, though.

:And I am aware now:

:Of how everything's gonna' be fine:

:One day, too late, I'm in hell:

:And I am prepared now:

:Seems everyone's gonna' be fine:

:One day, too late, just as well:

The song returned to its mellow pace as that part ended, but everyone was still swaying to the sound of it, showing how into it they were.

:I feel the dream in me expire, and there's no one left to blame it on:

:I hear you label me a liar, 'cause I can't seem:

:To get this through:

:You say it's over, I can sigh again, yeah:

:But why try to stay sober when I'm dying here:

The music once again intensified as everyone playing once again got hyped up, Maki going so far as to wildly bob his head.

:And I am aware now:

:Of how everything's gonna' be fine:

:One day, too late, I'm in hell:

:And I am prepared now:

:Seems everyone's gonna' be fine:

:One day, too late, just as well:

Here, the music changed, became softer, to give Konjyoyaki a vocal solo.

:And I'm not scared now:

:I must assure you:

:You're never gonna' get away:

:And I'm not scared now, no:

:And I'm not scared now, no:

The music returned, increasing in the intensity of the refrain for what seemed to be the final time, keeping up to the very end of the song.

:So, yeah, I am aware now:

:Of how everything's gonna' be fine:

:One day, too late, I'm in hell:

:And I am prepared now:

:Seems everything's gonna' be fine:

:One day, too late, just as well:

:I am prepared now:

:Seems everything's gonna' be fine:

:For me, for me for, myself:

:For me, for me, for myself:

:For me, for me, for myself:

:I am prepared now for myself:

:I am prepared now and I am fine:

Here, Konjyoyaki held the note as the guitar let out one last waning chord. With that, he held the last note.

:Again:

With that, the white-coated man jumped of the stage, landing without a sound as he ignored the applause from the stragglers, instead staring intently at the group of friends. He allowed a small grin to come to his face. "Is that enough proof for you?" the group just collectively nodded, still shocked that the man in front of them was capable of such talent, especially when his normal voice was only a vague shadow of when he sang. "Good, now leave, we still have work to do." And with that, he jumped back on stage and approached his still bowing band-mates.

Soon enough, everyone departed.

/

Soon enough, 8:00 a.m. rolled around and Mizore and Naruto made their way to where they would meet Mizore's mother. The two were once again hand-in-hand as they traveled with their friends, since they, too, were expecting to meet relatives.

Many more people had awoken by now too, some due to alarms, some due to them hearing the performance earlier due to their superior hearing, some due to just falling out of bed. The point was, many more people were now milling around, either working to get their booths ready to open or seeing what the festival had to offer.

Eventually, parents started to arrive, ready to meet their children. And through the crowd, Mizore saw the person she was waiting for. "Mother," she yelled out, attracting the attention of the person in question. She smiled and made her way towards the group.

When Naruto saw the woman, he knew there was no mistaking it; she and Mizore were defiantly related. The woman had fair skin and light-purple hair. The blonde wanted to say it was a lavender colour, maybe even periwinkle, and it was tied in a loose bun on the back of her head with several strands coming down to her shoulders. She was dressed in a simple kimono with her hands in her sleeves and to top it all off, she had a lollipop in her mouth similar to her daughters.

As she made her way over, Naruto noticed the smile on her face. "Hello, Mizore-chan."

"Hello mother." And with that, the two met in an embrace, during which, Naruto noticed that Mizore came up to the woman's chin. Since he wasn't much taller than her, Naruto imagined that he would come up to her nose. The blonde cast those thoughts away as Mizore started talking again when the hug ended. "Mother, these are my friends," and with that she swept her arm at everyone present.

The woman bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you all." When she looked up, she seemed to notice Naruto's distinctive blonde hair and made her way over to him. "You must be the boy my Mizore-chan told me about. Uzumaki Naruto, right?"

Naruto bowed and then stuck his hand out to shake the woman's. "Yes. It is nice to meet you Shirayuki-san." Ignoring the hand, the woman drew the boy into a hug, much to the shock of everyone but Mizore. The others just regarded the scene as awkward. 'What the fuck?' was all the blonde could think before the woman let go.

"Please, call me Tsurara-chan. After all, you should become familiar with me if you're going to become my son-in-law." Naruto just looked at the woman, then to Mizore, wondering just what was wrong with her mother.

"Right, of course, Tsurara-chan." Naruto just decided to go with it, a blush on his face, especially since he promised Mizore to help her with this.

The woman just continued to smile, especially when she saw her daughter and his 'boyfriend' grasp hands. "Right then. Let's go do something." And with that, the three were gone.

/

As the trio walked through the festival grounds, they of course had to pass by the giant concert stage, where it looked like the band was getting ready to once again perform. Seeing this, Tsurara became interested, especially in the one-armed front man, and asked to see what was going on. So they joined the crowd, figuring that this would be interesting.

Turning to the band, Konjyoyaki nodded, allowing Ruby and Maki to begin their easy going tune. Shortly after, Kotsubo joined in as well, being a show off by bouncing his drumsticks off the instrument and catching it in mid-air.

:In you life:

:You seem to have it all:

:You seem to have control:

:But deep within your soul:

:You're losing it:

:You never took the time:

Assume that you're to blame:

:You think that you're insane, won't you spare me:

Here, the music picked up only slightly, and Naruto thought he saw Konjyoyaki looking at him through the corner of his eye. Then, Maki joined him in backup.

:I know the breakdown:

:Everything is gonna' shake now someday:

:I know the breakdown:

:Tell me again, am I awake now maybe:

:You can find the reason that:

:No one else in living this way:

:Living this way:

Everything went back to normal then, along with Konjyoyaki being the only one singing after a few beats. But, even though the man was looking away, Naruto could still feel his eyes on him.

:Yeah your lies:

:The world is built around:

:Two faces of a clown:

:The voices in your head think there's four pawns down:

:Well in this unity:

:Fate has found the need:

:So you better check yourself before you check out:

It went back to the refrain, Kotsubo still being a show off and the others joining in on the action, doing windmills or playing behind their heads. Konjyoyaki ignored it.

:I know the breakdown:

:Everything is gonna' shake now someday:

:I know the breakdown:

:Tell me again, am I awake now maybe:

:You can find the reason that:

:No one else in living this way:

:Living this way:

There was a small guitar solo now before Konjyoyaki started a new part.

:If you find yourself then you might believe (if you find yourself then you might believe):

Maki's voice added an echo to the music, a nice effect if Naruto thought about it.

:Then within yourself you just might conceive (then within yourself you just might):

:Yeah:

The song was coming to an end as the music intensified.

:I know the breakdown:

:Everything is gonna' shake now someday:

:I know the breakdown:

:Tell me again, am I awake now maybe:

:You can find the reason that:

:No one else in living this way:

:Living this way:

:You can find the reason that (you can find the reason that):

:No one else is living this way (you can find the reason that):

:You can find the reason that (you can find the reason that):

:No one else is living this way (you can find the reason that):

:You can find the reason that (you can find the reason that):

:No one else is living this way (you can find the reason that):

And with a final strum, the song ended as the crowd erupted into cheers. Naruto still couldn't believe how good a singer Konjyoyaki was. Turning, he saw Tsurara clapping her hands politely.

"Well, wasn't that lovely?" she asked, a smile on her face. The other two just nodded their heads. "Okay, let's see what else this place has to offer." And so, the two followed the woman around the festival, stopping to play a few games and such.

It wasn't long before the hecklers made themselves apparent though. "Hey, step on up to test your strength! The name of the game is simple people; just swing the hammer and ring the bell all the way at the top of the tower to win a prize! Price of admission is low, so you can afford to lose!"

Naruto took a look at the thing and decided immediately that the thing was rigged. He could see that the tube that let the weight up to hit the bell fifty feet in the air got thinner near the top, so it wouldn't actually go all the way. Naruto started to leave as the man spoke once again, seeing no one was biting.

"Okay, how about this! Get the weight halfway to the top and win a small prize! C'mon, anyone can play!" it was then that he spotted Naruto. "How about you sir?"

Naruto turned and, seeing the man staring at him with not many others around, pointed to himself. "Me?"

"Yes, you with the blonde hair! You look like a strong man! Care to see if you can win?"

"Not really," Naruto deadpanned, causing most people to sweat drop. When he started to walk away again, the man decided on a different tactic.

"What, you afraid of losing in front of your girlfriend or something? You don't want her to see how weak you really are or something?" he saw Naruto stop and he smirked. Now to go in for the kill. "That's it right? You're just a big fucking pussy!" and with that, Naruto turned around and approached the attraction. 'Works every time,' the man thought.

Naruto paid the price to play and took up the heavy hammer, determination in his eyes. Mizore was in the crowd, watching him with slightly worried eyes, while Tsurara found the whole thing amusing. Now, normally Naruto wouldn't have really cared what the fuckhead running the attraction called him… well, okay, he would, but he would normally just throw insults back and forth before the got in a fight. This time, however, he was in front of a girl that he was technically on a date on and wasn't going to stand for such a thing.

With a grin, Naruto hefted the hammer over his shoulder and decided to take some preemptive action. 'Hey, Kyuubi, give me some chakra. You know, not enough that anyone can clearly feel it, just enough to shatter this fucking thing.' He could feel the Bijuu grin as well as his muscles began to tingle and brought the hammer down on the lever with such a force the wood of the target splintered.

The weight shot straight up as the force of the hammer swing got transferred to it. everyone watched with baited breath as the weight began to lose speed as the tube thinned. The weight passed the middle section, already gaining Naruto a prize, but that's not what he wanted. The blonde wanted to see the smug bastard's face when he rang the bell.

The smug bastard himself had a smirk on his face. There was no way the blonde could win. Or so he thought. The smirk quickly vanished as the sound of grating metal reached everyone's ears, the sound of the weight struggling to continue upwards. It didn't stop though, even as some of its metal wore away and the tube widened to allow the size of it, splitting a bit.

Everyone's heads turned up, seeing the weight slow, so close to the bell, just a few more inches. And there it was. A slight, feeble ting rang out as the weight just stopped at the bell, staying there, unable to move. Naruto turned to the bastard, a grin on his face. Everyone had heard the bell ring, they all knew he won, even if it wasn't exactly the dramatic finish he had been hoping for.

"I think you owe me a prize."

The bastard remained silent, wondering just how Naruto had managed to do that. Finally, he just raised the blonde's hand. "W-we have a w-winner."

/

"Thanks for the dolphin, Naruto-kun," said Mizore as the trio continued down through the festival grounds. Indeed, the girl now had a giant plush dolphin in her arms, measuring three feet long and a foot wide, coloured a light blue on top with a white underbelly. Naruto just grinned at her.

"No problem, Mizore-chan. But are you sure you don't want me to carry it for you?"

"No thank you, I got it." Tsurara followed behind the two, happy at the conversation. She could see why her daughter liked the boy. He was caring and strong and just seemed very friendly overall.

"Say, Mizore-chan, why don't you show me what your club did for the festival." The purple-haired girl looked at her mother and smiled.

"Okay, you can meet the rest of my friends, too." And so the group went to the newspaper clubs stand. Naruto had to wonder though, how would Mizore's mother react when she saw Zetsu?

Surprisingly, she didn't really react to him. she just kept up her smile as she greeted him and Gin. "Well, it's nice to meet you."

Zetsu just bowed. "It's nice to meet you to, ma'am. Would you like a drink?"

"My, that would be lovely. Do you have any mint tea?" she asked. Zetsu's answer was cut off by Gin.

"Hurry up Zetsu! Stop stalling and let me get back to kicking you ass!" Yes, the two were still playing paper football. It would appear that Gin was winning, too, shown clearly by the appearance of Zetsu's slightly bitter look. "Uzumaki, please tend to the lady, would you? And get me a coffee while you're at it!"

"Would you mind getting me one, too?" asked Zetsu as he sat back down at the table to try to get back in the lead. The blonde had to admit, it was strange seeing two men in suits, one with green hair and split down the middle in two colours, playing paper football. Regardless, he just sighed and turned to Mizore.

"You want anything while I'm at it?"

"A water would be nice," was all she said. Naruto nodded and disappeared into the booth. He emerged a few minutes later with a tray in his hands. He placed the coffees in front of the two who were supposed to be working as they seemed to ignore him. he then gave the tea to Tsurara, before placing a glass of water in front of Mizore and taking one for himself before sitting at the table with the girls.

Tsurara took a sip of her tea and sighed in content. With that she turned to Naruto. "I've been meaning to ask you something, Naruto-kun."

The blonde looked at her questioningly. "What is it?" he asked as he took a sip of water.

"Well, I want to know when you're planning the wedding." The full impact of those words hit Naruto full on, causing him to gasp and take water down the wrong hole.

Over at the next table, Zetsu messed up his shot and sent the paper triangle flying into the back of the blonde's head, adding insult to injury. Mizore rubbed her friend's back and Tsurara just looked on concerned. "Mother, that was kind of uncalled for."

"Well, I'm sorry dear, but I just want to make sure you've been talking about it. he has shown interest, hasn't he?" Tsurara's voice became lower and a cold chill ran through Naruto. He idly noticed that her drink had iced over, and some frozen spikes were floating in the air.

Getting some air back into his lung, Naruto hurriedly tried to fend off the woman's seemingly uncalled for wrath. "O-of course we've been talking about it! we just haven't been able to decide on a date of finalize any details!" as he said that, he was waving his hands in a placating manner, trying to get his point across.

Tsurara smiled as the ice spears fell to the ground and shattered and her tea thawed slightly. "That's good to hear. At least you're trying." Naruto just gave a slight chuckle, unnoticing as Gin retrieved the paper football behind him. he had bigger things to think about.

'What the fuck? What's wrong with her?'

'Well, she's a yuki-onna, what do you expect?'

'How's that supposed to help?' asked Naruto, not seeing how that was relevant.

Kyuubi just sighed. 'The yuki-onna are a dying race, you see. Due to genetics, there is only a small time frame in which they can have children. Many of them are married off at the age of seventeen, the age of maturity, in arranged marriages, to help strengthen the race. There are few exceptions to this rule. You can see why Tsurara-san is pushing marriage. She knows her daughter is happy with you, and doesn't want you to wait until it's too late and Mizore-san is forced to marry someone she doesn't love.'

The implications quickly set in. 'B-But, I don't even know if she actually loves me!'

'Well, do you love her?'

'I… I guess. Yes, I do love Mizore-chan.'

'Then what's the harm in telling her so? You said you were ready to move on, you said you love her, and she seems to get along with you better than anyone else.'

'But I don't want to rush her into something!' that was it, Naruto's final plea, the fact that he didn't want to make his move too soon and ruin everything. Kyuubi supposed that he could sympathize, but that didn't change anything.

'I'm sorry to say it, but if you don't rush just a bit, you'll miss your chance at happiness.' And with that, Kyuubi was gone, leaving Naruto something to think about. Luckily, he had a plan.

/

the group approached the concert stage once again, and it seemed that the band was ready to do another song. It was late in the afternoon by now and there were many more people on the grounds, resulting in a bigger crowd than before. Through it all, though, Konjyoyaki still managed to somehow notice them and send a smirk Naruto's way. One that confused Naruto somewhat.

Then, the music started, slow and creepy, each player seemingly doing their own thing as the music played on. But, at the same time, they seemed to be harmonizing. They then all came together as Konjyoyaki let out his voice, heavy with emotion, like he meant what he said.

:My friends are all hurting:

:From moments and regrets:

:And charity laced with a lie:

:And still we keep hoping"

"To fix all the defects:

:And strengthen these seminal ties:

:We go on together:

:For better or worse:

:Our history is too real to hate:

:Now and forever:

:We stay until morning:

:And promise to fight for our fate:

And now the music turned creepy again, increasing in volume and intensity a bit. Chief among them all was Ruby, her guitar sounding high pitched and strained almost.

:Till we die:

:Till we die:

The music mellowed back down to normal again as that part ended.

:The start of the journey:

:Is every bit worth it:

:I can't let you down anymore:

:The sky is still clearing:

:We're never afraid:

:And the consequence opens the door:

:I've never stopped trying:

:I've never stopped feeling:

:Like family is much more than blood:

:Don't go on without me:

:The piece that I represent:

:Compliments each and everyone:

The music once again increased itself as the refrain was sung.

:Till we die:

:Till we die:

Konjyoyaki's voice continued on to be intense along with the music.

:We won't be forgotten:

:We'll never give in:

:This war we've achieved has allowed us to win:

:Till we die:

:Till we die:

Once again the music toned it down. It was a good effect, sort if resonating in one's soul if they let it, the music speaking to them. But to Naruto, it was more. It was as if Konjyoyaki was actually trying to tell him something. The fact that he wouldn't just do it to his face sort of pissed him off. Then again, none of this sounded familiar. What was he talking about?

:My last true confession:

:Will open your eyes:

:I've never known trust like the nine:

Okay, now that could have just been a coincidence, but the nine? Naruto had to wonder if the man meant the Kyuubi, or, in essence, him. he trusted him? now he was sure that there was a hidden message in the song for him.

:Let it be spoken:

:Let it be screamed:

:They'll never ever take us alive:

The music once again brought out the guitar heavily.

:Till we die:

:Till we die:

:We won't be forgotten:

:We'll never give in:

:This war we've achieved has allowed us to win:

:Carry on:

:Carry on:

:We'll never be broken, we won't be denied:

:Our war is our pressure we need to survive:

:We'll never be broken, we won't be denied:

:Our war is our pressure we need to survive:

:Till we die:

:Till we die:

:We won't be forgotten:

:We'll never give in:

:The war we've achieved has allowed us to win:

:Carry on:

:Carry on:

Konjyoyaki almost seemed to mumble out the next lines slowly, the words still ringing clear, though.

:We'll never be broken, we won't be denied:

:Our war is our pressure we need to survive:

The music came back as Konjyoyaki began to sing passionately, Maki filling in backup.

:(Till we die) We won't be forgotten:

:We'll never give in:

:(Till we die) This war we've achieved has allowed us to win:

:(Till we die) We'll never be broken:

:We won't be denied:

:(Till we die) Our war is our pressure we need to survive:

The music tapered down as only the instruments played. They, to, soon left, leaving only Ruby to behind to play her original, creepy tune. When it finally ended, the crowd broke out into applause. Everyone took a bow, before returning into the small enclosure they had on the back of the stage to take a break.

Seeing this, Naruto quickly left. "Excuse me, I need go do something. I'll be back." And with that, Naruto used his superior ninja sneaking skills to slip into the enclosure unnoticed. "Konjyoyaki," he said, catching everyone's attention. He had many questions for the man, especially about that song, but something else needed to be addressed first. "Can I ask you something?"

/

"I see," was all the man said. Everyone had just listened to the request, and they were all amused by it. turning to his band-mates, Konjyoyaki asked them about it. "What do you think?" he was met with nods all around. Turning back to Naruto, he said, "We'll see what we can do."

Naruto smiled. "Thanks." And with that, he left, leaving everyone silent. A few seconds later, another familiar face appeared.

Konjyoyaki smirked. "And what can we do for you?"

/

When Naruto got back to the spot he left the rest of his group at, he noticed someone missing. "Hey, where's Mizore-chan?" he asked. Tsurara just turned to him and gave him a smile. He noticed that she was holding the dolphin he had won.

"She said that she had to do something as well and left shortly after you did. In fact, there she is right now." And, sure enough, Mizore soon came running up to the two.

"Hey, Naruto-kun, can I talk to you?" the blonde looked at her curiously, but nodded either way.

"Sure, lead on."

And with that, the two of them left, Mizore's mother calling after them. "I'll be here waiting when you're done." And with that, the woman turned back to the stage, slightly cheering as the band came back out.

/

Naruto's curiosity continued to grow, especially when he and Mizore emerged on the roof of the school, overlooking the festival grounds. From here, they had a good view of the concert and could hear it pretty clearly.

Looking at the sky, he saw that the sun was setting. He let a small smile form on his face, and quickly let it drop when he heard Mizore speaking to him.

"Naruto-kun, I'm sorry."

"About what?" Naruto asked, not expecting the apology.

"For not telling you about my mother. I should have warned you about how she was."

"Listen," Naruto said, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder, "It's fine. You asked me for help, and I was glad to do it. even if I had known, I still would have agreed. And… I know why she's like that. I know that you'll be forced into an arranged marriage if you don't find someone soon."

"Y-… you do?" she asked, surprised.

Naruto just nodded. "Kyuubi told me about it, and I just wanted to say, you know, being your boyfriend today was great, and, if you want, I would still like to be your boyfriend, you know?" this was kind of awkward for all parties involved, but Mizore found it sweet nonetheless.

An unexpecting Naruto soon found himself embraced in a hug, with he quickly returned. The two just stood there, not moving, just holding each other. Before either one could say anything, a loud voce washed over them, and they both turned to look over the balcony.

Konjyoyaki stood on stage, looking around the audience a bit before spotting the two on the roof. He grinned a bit as he spoke. "Okay folks, we've had a lot of fun tonight, but unfortunately it's almost time for today's festivities to come to an end." His statement was met with displeasure and even a few 'boo's. undeterred, the man continued onwards. "Before that time comes, however, I think we have time for one more song." In return, he was met with cheers as his band-mates nodded. "So this song is for two people, both friends of mine, who asked for something special for the other one. Crazy, huh? Let's hit it!"

Naruto and Mizore looked at each other, both knowing that the other had requested a song for them. They both smiled at that and tightened the hug, not wanting to let go. then, the music started.

Apparently, Konjyoyaki could play the piano, as there was now a keyboard in front of him, his fingers dancing across the keys and the bass giving occasional strums, matching the soft sound Konjyoyaki created. His voice only added to the experience.

:I can't fight this feeling any longer:

:And yet I'm still afraid to let it flow:

:What started out as friendship has grown stronger:

:I only wish I had the strength to let it flow:

One by one, member in the audience started holding up lighters to the sky, making a sea of orange come into being as they swayed with the music. Naruto and Mizore began to rock back and forth as they continued to hold each other, looking into their eyes, smiles on their faces.

:I tell myself that I can't hold out forever:

:I said there is no reason for my fear:

:'Cause I feel so secure when we're together:

:You give my life direction, you make everything so clear:

:And even as I wander, I'm keeping you in sight:

:You're a candle in the window on a cold dark winter's night:

:And I'm getting closer than I ever thought I might:

Konjyoyaki held the last note as the drums and guitar came in, giving the song a more rock n' roll feeling.

:And I can't fight this feeling anymore:

:I've forgotten what I started fighting for:

:It's time to bring this ship into the shore:

:And throw away the oars, forever:

:'Cause I can't fight this feeling anymore:

:I've forgotten what I started fighting for:

:And if I have to crawl upon the floor, come crashing through your door:

:Baby, I can't fight this feeling anymore:

The guitar played a small solo before it faded out for a bit and Konjyoyaki's voice came back.

:My life has been such a whirlwind since I saw you:

:I've been running round in circles in my mind:

:And it always seems that I'm following you, girl:

:'Cause you take me to the places that alone I'd never find:

:And even as I wander, I'm keeping you in sight:

:You're a candle in the window on a cold dark winter's night:

:And I'm getting closer than I ever thought I might:

Ruby and Kotsubo once again came on strong, eliciting cheers from the audience, louder than they were before.

:And I can't fight this feeling anymore:

:I've forgotten what I started fighting for:

:It's time to bring this ship into the shore:

:And throw away the oars, forever:

:'Cause I can't fight this feeling anymore:

:I've forgotten what I started fighting for:

:And if I have to crawl upon the floor, come crashing through your door:

:Baby, I can't fight this feeling anymore:

The music began to soften as the last line was held for a bit. As the music ran out, Naruto removed the lollipop from Mizore's mouth and they both closed the gap in between their lips, instincts overcoming them. Fireworks went off in the background as the day ended and the sun disappeared behind the horizon among the many cheers of fans.

They held the kiss, soft, chaste, as Naruto mused on the taste of Mizore's lips. She tasted of crisp mint, quite obviously, but it masked something else. Peach, maybe? Naruto didn't know, but he knew that he liked it. Mizore was enjoying herself, too. She didn't know what he tasted like, but knew that she loved it, just like she loved him. she broke the kiss to tell him.

"I love you, Naruto-kun." The blonde looked into her eyes, and knew that she was telling the truth.

"I love you, too." With that, they shared a peck on the lips before Mizore buried her head in her boyfriend's chest, Naruto running his fingers through her purple locks. "We should probably go back to your mother."

"What you don't like this?" she asked teasingly. The two shared a laugh and reluctantly returned to where everyone else was.

/

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Youkai Academy, Hokuto looked back as the fireworks went off, sparing one last look at the place before he left for good. Kiria noticed and stopped pushing the wheelchair they had… 'burrowed' from the hospital, looking at his friend in it, still holding the file given to him in his lap.

"You don't want to say goodbye?" asked the blonde, already knowing his friend's response.

"Why? If we go back now, we run the risk of being caught. Besides, just because a piece of paper says something, it doesn't make it true. DNA tests can be faked. It is easy enough for us to get a sample from me and run it against them, but from him, that would be difficult, so we can't be sure what he says is true. But what was in the journals… that is interesting, and we can see if some of it's true easily enough. Maybe we can trust him afterwards; he's been pretty forthcoming thus far."

"So you don't believe what the first note told you?"

"Until we get some more concrete evidence, I can't believe that that Konjyoyaki is my… nii-san." There was a silence for a moment, and it was obvious that Hokuto had trouble imagining he had siblings of any sort, before Kiria began pushing the wheelchair again. Hokuto spared one last glance at the academy, and knew that he and Konjyoyaki would meet again. And who knew, maybe he could even repay Tsukune for helping him find himself one day. Time only knew.

/

And that's a wrap… sort of. Fuck. They just keep getting longer, damnit! And if that's not enough, now I have to deal with a fucking omake! Shit!

/

Omake:

Konjyoyaki stood on stage, sweating a bit from being up on stage and singing all day. The crowd cheered, delighted with the bands performance, ignorant of the man's hatred of the situation. To make matters worse for him, he wasn't going to choose the next song.

Grumbling in annoyance, the man made the announcement that would likely hype up the already excited crowd. "So, throughout this event, we've been asking you guys to put in your votes for songs you want us to play. Well, the time has come for us to pick a winner."

As expected, the crowd cheered louder as a stagehand rolled out a metal cage like one seen at bingo events to choose the balls. Saying his final prayers, Konjyoyaki turned the handle on the cage to mix up the pieces of paper found inside. After a few moments, he stopped turning, opened the hatch, and retrieved a piece of paper. As he read it, his stomach dropped as his face remained unreadable.

Eventually, his eyebrow twitched after making sure he wasn't misreading the slip. "Excuse us for a moment," and with that, he disappeared into the enclosure with his band mates. The audience looked on, confused, as they soon heard muffled laughter and the sounds of heated argument. Before long the band returned.

However, this time they were carting in several mix tables and a tank of helium was now located next to Konjyoyaki. The man's facial tick was now prevalent, allowing everyone to see that he was pissed. However, he steadied himself and soon spoke.

"Sorry about that, we promise that there will be no more delays like that, but we needed materials for this next bit. Now without further ado…" with that, the man turned on the tank and took a few deep breathes of the gas from the mask attached to it.

Soon, a techno-pop beat began to play from the mix tables, and Konjyoyaki began to sing, his voice high and extremely light.

:Do-do-do:

:Yeah-eah-eah yeah:

the music picked up and the crowd began to bounce around, much to the singer's annoyance. He didn't enjoy people reveling in his misery. Nonetheless, he began to sing… in Swedish.

:Vi undrarar ni redo alt vera med:

:Armarna upp nu ska ni fa se:

:Kom igen:

:Hven som helst kan vara med:

:Vara med:

:So ror pa era fotter:

:Oa-a-a:

:Och vicka era hofter:

:O-la-la-la:

:Gor som vi:

:Til denna melodi:

:Oa-oa-a:

:Dansa med oss:

:Klappa era hofter:

:Gor som vi gor:

:Ta nagra steg at vanster:

:Lyssna och lar:

:Missa inte chansen:

:Nu ar vi har med:

:Caramelldansen:

:O-o-oa-oa:

:O-o-oa-oa-a:

:O-o-oa-oa:

:O-o-oa-oa-a:

:Det blir en sensation over alt forstas:

:Pa fester kommer alla att slappa loss:

:Kom igen:

:Nu tar vi stegen omigen:

:Oa-oa:

:Sa ror pa era fotter:

:Oa-a-a:

:Och vicka era hofter:

:O-la-la-la:

:Gor som vi:

:Til denna melodi:

:Sa kom och:

:Dansa med oss:

:Klappa era hander:

:Gor so vi gor:

:Ta nagra steg at vanster:

:Lyssna och lar:

:Missa inte chansen:

:Nu ar vi har med:

:Caramelldansen:

Here, the music sort of faded out, leaving Konjyoyaki's high voice unobstructed among the crowd, much to the man's displeasure.

:Dans med oss:

:Klappa era hander:

:Gor so vi gor:

:Ta nagra steg at vanster:

:Lyssna och lar:

:Missa inte chansen:

:Nu ar vi har med:

:Caramelldansen:

The music returned, and the scarred man took some pleasure in knowing that the song was almost over.

:O-o-oa-oa:

:O-o-oa-oa-a:

:O-o-oa-oa:

:O-o-oa-oa-a:

:Sa kom och:

:Dansa med oss:

:Klappa era hander:

:Gor so vi gor:

:Ta nagra steg at vanster:

:Lyssna och lar:

:Missa inte chansen:

:Nu ar vi har med:

:Caramelldansen:

:Dans med oss:

:Klappa era hander:

:Gor so vi gor:

:Ta nagra steg at vanster:

:Lyssna och lar:

:Missa inte chansen:

:Nu ar vi har med:

:Caramelldansen:

And with that, the song ended. The crowd continued bouncing around anyway. Sure, they may have had no fucking clue as to what was said, but they got a good vibe from it. Konjyoyaki just continued to glare. That was, until he spied the spiky blonde hair of a familiar person. Grinning a bit, the man thought of the next song to sing as his blood returned to its normal thickened and his voice returned to normal. The mix tables were gone, the instruments were back, it was time to rock.

/

Damn. You know, the chapter alone was over 13,000 words, and the author's notes and omake just lengthened it. I can understand it can be tedious to sit at your computer screen all day, and so does my beta, Lykaos. That's why I have decided to take his advice and limit my chapters to 10,000 words at the most… starting at chapter 16. I have a plan, and I would be awkward to break up next chapter if it goes longer than that, you know. So, the omake was a suggestion by Skittlekick, and I hope you liked it.

What's this? Is Konjyoyaki really Hokuto's brother, or was it just a ruse like Hokuto said? What will be the repercussions of this dimension-bending question? Well, I know, but you'll have to wait and see. I don't know, I have mixed feelings about this chapter. Some parts feel good to me while others feel rushed. Tell me what you think, please, and if enough of you agree with me, I'll redo it to make it flow better. Anyway this has been a 14,151 word chapter by your fellow author, Acolyte of Truth!


	15. Simply a Test

Hey guys. You know, this chapter should have come out sooner, but life just seems to hate me right now. I've been really pissed for multiple reasons that seemed to hit me all at once, every time I sat done in front of the computer, I found myself unable to concentrate and had to force myself to type, unfortunately, my beta, Lykaos, had his computer crash, lost all of the notes he had for a story he was going to write, and now this chapter is unedited because I have a disability that prevents me from reading over my own shit. Yes, I have another beta, but I didn't want to bother him. To top it all off, school starts in less than two weeks, and I have a summer project for a humanities class that I've barely even touched. Why the fuck would you accept me into a class that doesn't involve me skipping a grade level if your going to stick me with fucking summer work? well, enough of my bitching, let's get onto why you're here.

/

Disclaimer: I don't own this shit. If you don't understand that by now, your obviously either skipping this, in which case why am I wasting time typing it, or are a flaming retard. I don't know which is worse.

/

Chapter 15: Merely a Test

Light gently flowed into the room through a window as the sun peeked above the horizon on this early morning at Youkai Academy. Birds fluttered through the air, singing their songs as carefree as they could be, unaware of the danger that was fast bound to ruin this lovely day. But how could they know? How could anyone know, for that matter? While it was true several individuals could comprehend the full scope of danger, those planning it and those waiting to capitalizes on it, a couple knew only of their own plans and orders while everyone else was left completely oblivious and unsuspecting, a state of mind that would cost a few innocent souls their lives.

But that would happen until much later. For now, people could enjoy the peace of the morning and the entertainment laid out for them. They could spend the day with their loved ones, making the most of this that would turn into one of the worst at the school, acting as the cataclysm that would push a certain blonde headed boy on a path to discover the truth. The truth for why he was here, of what his destiny was.

But, once again, I digress, you are not yet ready to understand the full story, and neither is young Uzumaki Naruto. The shinobi was still in bed, sleeping soundly. In his mind, he was replaying everything that had happened the previous day. A small smile came to his whiskered face as he thought back on the memories.

That smile slowly turned into a scowl, however, as the early morning light that had been constantly moving across the floor of the room flooded Naruto's eyelids with its yellow light. Annoyed with the turn of events, the groggy blonde flipped over to his other side, avoiding the light and being gaining the right to sleep a little longer.

However, it wasn't meant to be, as something new distracted Naruto in his quest to gain sleep. A sound. A very unfamiliar one at that. In fact, if the jinchuuriki of one of the most powerful beings to be created by Jashin didn't know any better, he would have thought that it sounded almost like a moan. And in that moment, a pair of blue eyes snapped open in shock, sleep be damned.

There, laying right next to Naruto, faces only a few inches apart, was one Shirayuki Mizore. The girl's hair was slightly messed up and she had the sheets pulled up to her chin, sucker was still in her mouth, which Naruto would have found cute, if he weren't scared out of his fucking mind at the moment.

_'Kyuubi, what the fuck happened? Why is Mizore-chan in my bed?'_

His response was in the form of a growl._**'Shut the hell up! It's way to early in the fucking morning for you to be yelling. Now go back to sleep!'**_

_'B-but Mizore-chan...!' _his shout was cut off by Kyuubi, who sounded way too lax about this whole situation.

_**'Relax kid. There's nothing to worry about.' **_Naruto heaved a mental sigh at that, thinking the worst of his fears were nothing but speculation. He nearly had a panic attack at what was said next. **_'After all, you took my advice and used a condom. Nothing to worry about.'_**

For a few moments, everything was silent. Naruto didn't dare to even breathe, let alone move, as he just stared at the serene looking girl in front of him, his mouth open in a silent scream, his eyes holding a haunted look in them. Not only had he just apparently lost his virginity to a girl he had just started dating, he couldn't even remember the fucking thing! How far was that? Naruto's brain suddenly turned back on as he registered Kyuubi laughing.

_**'Oh fuck! Okay, okay, I'm sorry! But that was just too good of a chance to pass up!' **_rumbling laughter once again ripped through the blonde's head causing a twitch to develop in one of his eyes.

_'You mean I didn't actually... you know, do it?'_

_**'C'mon, stop pussyfooting around the subject! No, you didn't fuck her, are you kidding? You couldn't use that limp thing you call a dick to make a hole in a wet paper bag!' **_the laughing continued as Naruto just twitched more at the insult to his manhood.

_'I really hate you, you know that?' _he didn't get a reply as the mental connection was cut off. But, that still left the matter of why his new girlfriend was in his bed. Suddenly, the memories all came back to him, rushing in with all the force of a tidal wave.

He remembered it being late by the time the two had parted ways with Mizore's mother, the elder woman giving the two a knowing smile, leading Naruto to believe that Tsurara knew what had happened on the roof of the school. Both of the kids has the decency to blush a bit. Regardless, they wished the woman a safe trip and began on their way towards the dorms.

As they approached the first of the large buildings, the boys' dorm, Naruto noticed Mizore had a tired look in her eyes, barely being able to keep her eyelids open and staggering every couple of steps. When the girl tried and failed to stifle a huge yawn, the blonde couldn't take it any longer.

"Mizore-chan, why don't you sleep in my room tonight? You don't look like you can make the trip to the girls' dorm by yourself."

The purple-haired girl just gave him a bleary-eyed gaze. "N-no, that's fi...," the girls was cut of as she gave off another large yawn. In truth, she hadn't gotten much sleep the other night, the prospect of spending the whole day with Naruto on what consisted as a date being to exciting to her. Even if she was extremely tired and wanted to spend the night with her boyfriend, she didn't want to impose on him, even if he had offered. "I'm fine, really."

The blonde's stern gaze said exactly what he was thinking. "Mizore-chan, you're in no state to travel. If we were attacked on the way to your room, you wouldn't be able to defend yourself. Come on, it's easier for everyone involved if you just accept my offer."

The girl was about to retort, saying she was perfectly capable of going on, when she began to sway from side to side. Before she knew it, Mizore was falling forwards, her legs having given out on her. Luckily, Naruto was there to catch her.

"I think that pretty much puts an end to this discussion. Come on." And with that, Naruto picked the girl up like one would their new bride and began towards the building. However, as the front door came in sight, a though occurred to him. He couldn't very well just waltz in carrying a girl, the guy at the front desk would ask too many questions and probably still not allow him up to his room. So, that left but one option. "Hang on tight, Mizore-chan." and with that, Naruto took a great leap and landed on the side of the building.

Now attached to the vertical surface thanks to a little chakra, Naruto began his walk up, trying to figure out which room was his. However, the whole experience left Mizore wondering if she was dreaming. Never in her life had she thought that she would be carried up a wall by her new boyfriend who was apparently immortal and not even from her dimension to begin with. Soon enough, Naruto found his room and opened the window before he crawled inside.

Naruto placed Mizore on his bed and closed the window, before he began to head towards the door. "Where are you going?" Mizore's voice cut through the darkened room, startling the blonde since he had thought the girl had fallen asleep. Regardless, Naruto turned to her and gave a simple answer.

"I'm gonna' crash in the living room for tonight." and with that, he began to open the door. However, that didn't seem right to Mizore. She was a guest and shouldn't have to make her host sleep on a couch or something. Managing to sit up, she tried to explain this to the blonde.

"No, I should be sleeping in the living room, not taking your bed. Here, let me switch with you."

"No, just stay there, I'll be fine," Naruto tried to argue back. However, the yuki onna wasn't going down without a fight.

"Fine, I'll stay, but at least sleep in the bed with me. It's plenty big enough. Besides, how else will you know if I try to leave?" Naruto paused, trying to find a flaw in the girl's logic. It quickly became apparent that there wasn't, and if there was, it wasn't big.

Sighing, Naruto closed the girl and turned to Mizore, the girl barely being able to make out his form in the dim light. The blonde really didn't want to have an argument. "If it will make you go to sleep, fine, I'll sleep in the bed with you." even in the poor light, Naruto could still see the girl's small grin of victory.

Pacing over to a bureau in the room, the boy retrieved a tank-top and a pair of shorts before stripping his uniform and putting the sleeping clothes on. He then got into bed and covered both him and Mizore up with the sheets. He could feel her shift around a bit, but after that, he heard her breathing slow, a sign that she fell asleep. The blonde followed suit soon after.

Back in the present time, Naruto just continued to stare at the girl, shifting through all the information that had recently come back to him. Blinking a bit, the only thought that came to mind was, _'Well, that explains a lot.' _glancing back over to his left, Naruto saw the clock read seven in the morning. As much as he would have liked to stay in bed, the blonde instead decided that now may be a good time to get ready.

After doing his morning routine, Naruto returned to his room to get dressed, being quiet so as not to awaken the sleeping girl.. He quickly threw on his pants and dress shirt, but, as per usual, was having trouble with his tie. After some struggling, he finally decided to ditch the red piece of cloth, figuring that it was more trouble than it was worth today an instead deciding to leave his pendant in full view. However, as he was putting on his green blazer, he heard Mizore getting out of bed.

Turning around with a smile on his face, Naruto regarded the girl. "Have a good night?" he asked. However, he quickly froze as he spied Mizore's state of dress. During the night, the girl had apparently rid herself of her sweatshirt and skirt, leaving her clad only in her black sleeveless shirt and purple and white striped panties along with her stockings.

The blonde continued to watch as the girl stretched, bringing her shirt up to show a bit of her flat stomach. Naruto continued to look on at the scene, a huge blush on his face as he stood completely still, one of his arms only halfway in his blazer. Eventually, Mizore took notice of her friend, and a confused look made its way onto her face.

Looking down to inspect herself, she realized that it was her state of dress causing him to act this way. A blush made itself apparent on her face as well as embarrassment overtook Mizore. Seeing as they were now in the same boat, Naruto snapped out of it and quickly turned around before he started to shuffle out of the room. "S-sorry," was all that was said as he left the blushing girl.

/

That awkward moment was followed shortly after by a quick breakfast, both individuals fully aware of the awkward silence hanging about the table. However, there really was nothing to say, nothing that wouldn't increase the embarrassment that both felt. So, the morning continued on in silence, until finally they left Naruto's dorm to enjoy the day's festivities.

"So..." the blonde started off, almost unsure of himself as he and Mizore walked through the crowds, hand in hand once more, "Anything in particular that you want to do today?"

"Not much," Mizore replied with a small shrug before she leaned gently into her boyfriend. "Maybe we can just hang out with everyone else today, find out what they did, you know."

"Works for me," and with that, the two went off to try and find the members of their club that were off-duty in the large mass of people. If all else failed, it at least gave the two of them an activity to kill time with.

Surprisingly, it didn't take long for them to find Zetsu. Then again, the man did kind of stand out in a crowd. At the call of his name, the two-toned man turned towards his friends. The normally stoic man allowed a small grin appear on his face. "Hello, you two."

Naruto also let a grin show on his face, the same with Mizore. Yes, Naruto had defiantly warmed up to everyone in the newspaper club. "Hey, I see you're not playing paper football with Gin. What's up?"

That remark quickly set Zetsu's mood back, which the other two quickly took notice of. "Never mention that game around me again." the tone in the man's voice sent a shiver down the blonde's spine. He was about to ask why, but quickly decided against it. He didn't want to know.

"So, have you seen anyone else yet?" asked Mizore. Zetsu just shook his head.

"I have not." it was then that he fully took notice of the interlocked hands the two sported. His mind quickly drew a conclusion. "I take it something good happened last night and you two are together now." Naruto and Mizore both blushed a bit before the girl gave him an answer.

"Yes, me and Naruto-kun are now a couple."

"That is good. I was wondering how long it would take before you two got together." both of the others just looked at him, surprised that he seemed to know that this would happen. Who else knew that they had feelings for each other. Of course, Mizore knew that the other girls knew, but Naruto was rather curious.

"So, anyway, will you help us find the others?" asked Naruto, wanting to get back on topic.

"Sure, I don't have anything better to do." and with that, the trio went back on its way, weaving through the crowds. "I think that it would be a logical choice if we go to our stand if we wish to find Tsukune-san. Seeing as he and Moka are extremely close, he would want to see how she is doing." agreeing with that, the small group quickly went to the location Zetsu suggested.

When they approached, they couldn't help but notice the large crowd gathered around the booth. Right on the outskirts of the group of people, Naruto noticed Tsukune, trying to muscle his way to the front of the commotion. Of course, he was failing abysmally. So, the blonde and his friends began to make their way towards him.

"Hey, Tsukune, what's up?" the brunette jumped a bit a the blonde's greeting, not really expecting the three to come find him. Nonetheless, the boy turned to them with a smile on his face.

"Hey," he said with a small wave as the others continued their approach. With that, he turned back to the crowd, his smile vanishing. Naruto noticed this, and asked him what was going on. The blonde received a sigh. "That's just it, I don't know. This crowd has been here way before I got up. I just came here because this festival isn't really all that fun without anyone to enjoy it with, and I couldn't find any of you."

"Well, why don't you come with us now?" inquired Mizore. "We were planning on finding you an Gin before we actually did anything, so what do you say? Besides, if we come back later, the crowd may have cleared out a bit."

Tsukune grinned at the offer, however, Naruto wasn't really paying attention. The blonde wanted to know why everyone was gathered at their booth. Taking a quick survey of the surrounding area, Naruto quickly found that no one besides those who knew about his shinobi status was paying any particular attention to him. With that, he took a mighty leap to peak over the heads of the crowd. What he saw made him blanch.

The three girls that were running the stand were dressed in probably the most revealing maid uniforms ever. In the blonde's opinion, anyway. The point is, all of them had on extremely short skirt. Their tops were low-cut, showing a substantial amount of cleavage and most of their backs. Of course, the girls also had on leggings, and were all smiling as they handed out papers and drinks. Looking back at the crowd, Naruto wasn't at all surprised to find that it consisted mostly of male students and their other male relatives. As he landed, the others all turned to him.

"Yeah, I don't think we're getting in their at all today."

"Way do you say that, Naruto-san?"

The blonde turned to Tsukune, an unreadable look in his blue eyes. "Please don't ask."

"Um, okay?" the brunette was highly confused, but, being the person he was, he respected his friend's wishes. "So, I guess we should find Gin now?"

"Knowing our club president, I believe that we should search in an area that is plentiful of girls, most likely those who are in a revealing state of dress." Zetsu was right, of course, Gin would be found in that type of environment. Of course, if Naruto really wanted to add his two cents in, he would have told his group that if the older boy wasn't in the crowd behind them, he had no idea where he might be. Then again, if he was in the crowd behind them, there was no way that they would be able to get him out. However, Naruto kept his mouth shut, not wanting to be asked questions of what was going on at the booth. That would lead some awkwardness, and the blonde had had more than enough of that for the day.

As the group left the area, they didn't notice that they were being watched from afar, the dark eyes focusing on one person in particular. A predatory grin came onto the person's shadowed face, loving the thrill of the hunt. The figure decided that they would follow the group a little further to a slightly more secluded area before pouncing on their prey. No sense in attracting too much attention, after all. With that, the hunter continued to to follow its target from the safety of the shadows.

However, the would be silent assailant had a fatal flaw. That flaw was Zetsu. The man's eyes quickly widened as he noticed the presence follow them. He quickly composed himself and made his pace match Naruto's. Seeing this, the blonde eyed his yellow-eyed friend before he spoke in a low voice. "Careful, we're being followed."

Now it was Naruto's turn for his eyes to widen. Making sure that the others weren't aware of the situation, he turned back to Zetsu. "Do you recognize them?"

He received a shake of the head. "Further more, I can't sense much power radiating from them, nor any truly malicious intent. However, that doesn't mean that they don't pose a threat. I suggest that we find a more secluded spot, that way, if a fight does break out, we are less likely to get anyone else involved."

Naruto pondered the situation over for a bit. He knew no matter what, Zetsu would through with whatever decision he made. The man was loyal like that to those who had earned his trust, an accomplishment Naruto didn't have a clue on how he completed. Regardless, the blonde couldn't really figure out anything better to do than what Zetsu suggested.

So, the blonde began to lead his group down a slightly more deserted path, something that the other two that were left in the dark took notice of. "Hey, Naruto-san, why are we going this way when Gin is probably somewhere back in the crowd?"

The blonde tilted his head to glance at Tsukune, before flashing what he thought was a disarming smile. "Oh, I think this is a shortcut we can use to get around all the crowds so we can find a spot Gin is at faster." Tsukune accepted the answer quickly, seeing no reason to not trust his friend. Mizore, however, suspected something was up. She knew better than to openly question the matter, though. This was obviously something that Naruto didn't want anyone to get worried about.

Back in the shadows, the figure allowed a grin to come to their face. This was just what they wanted, though, they supposed they wished a few more people were around. Oh well, beggars couldn't be choosers. With that the hunter pounced right at their target.

"Hiyah!" Naruto tensed when he heard the yell along with everyone else before all of them turned around, looking for the source of the sound and preparing for a fight. In truth, everyone expected the unknown assailant to go after Naruto, hoping to catch the group's heavy hitter off guard in an attempt to get him out of the fight. It wouldn't have worked very well, of course, but that had never stopped anyone from trying before.

So, the group was slightly shocked and confused when instead it was Tsukune that was attacked, receiving a dropkick to the chest by a dark-haired female which sent the boy going back quite a ways. The girl just smirked as she approached the boy's downed form, a smirk on her face as she placed one foot on top of him, showing how she had prevailed against him. The others were just plain confused, but sensed no danger from the girl, so did absolutely nothing to help their friend.

Meanwhile, the girl just laughed as Tsukune cautiously looked up. Surprise quickly overtook him as he recognized the person on top of him. "Kyouko-chan?" the girl just continued to laugh.

"Surprised, Tsukune-kun?" the boy could say nothing as his friends finally decided to do something.

"You know her, Tsukune?"

The girl, Kyouko, took her foot off of Tsukune and helped him up, still grinning. "Y-yeah, she's my cousin! But why are you here?" the boy turned back to his cousin.

"Oh, come on, Tsukune-kun, you know that we've always been more like siblings than anything! As for why I'm here, I was curious to see how you were doing and what your school was like. And besides, someone needs to protect ya'!" and with that, Kyouko enveloped Tsukune in a hug, the former of who was sweating bullets.

"P-protect?"

"Of course, silly! Between you and me, something about this school sets something in me off, like it's trying to hide something, and I'm gonna' find out what that is!"

Tsukune was in full on panic mode by now. Nothing good come come of his cousin being at the school. Nothing! The boy quickly pulled away from Kyouko and grabbed his friends, dragging them around the corner. "Excuse me for a second, we need to discuss something in private."

When they were out of ear shot, Naruto turned on his friend. "What's going on, Tsukune?"

"Well, long story short, ever since we were young Kyouko has been protecting me and has had a thing for mysteries. So now she's here to see how I'm doing and see if this place is hiding something. So, sooner or later, she is either going to discover that this is a school for monsters, of people here is going to discover that she is human. This is, bad! We need to keep her safe and in the dark."

"One problem," everyone one turned to look at Zetsu, and saw that he was peeking around the corner that the group had run behind, "your cousin is gone."

/

Kyouko was currently moving through the throngs of people, a camera in hand that the girl used to take a picture of anything and anything that she deemed 'suspicious'. Therefore, the flash of the camera bulb was going off almost every five seconds, Kyouko swinging her head to and fro to try and take in all of the scenery. It should come as no surprise that the girl was receiving more than a few stares, but most people wrote her off as an inexperienced journalist. She payed the looks no mind focused on her mission to uncover the truth.

The stares only increased as the girl was tackled by two guys and dragged around a corner, Kyouko screaming in shock from the surprise attack. She flailed about as she was continually pulled across the ground until she was out of sight from all of the people. Her hands searched for something, anything that she could utilize as a weapon.

Suddenly, she felt the cool surface of a discarded glass bottle and quickly gripped it by its neck. It was at that point that Kyouko's captors released her. They began to speak, but she wouldn't listen. Instead, she sprang up and swung the bottle, her eyes closed in fright.

The sound of breaking glass was quickly accompanied by a startled, by filled shout. Not stopping there, Kyouko jumped back, swinging the bottle every which way in an attempt to dissuade her assailants. She heard plenty of swearing and a voice trying to comfort who she thought was the person she hit. However, what made her open her eyes was the familiar voice trying to comfort _her_.

She almost gasped at what she saw. Tsukune was right in front of her, looking nervous and fearful due to the bottle in her hands, yet still trying to comfort her. He seemed to calm as she lowered her weapon. Turning her head, Kyouko noticed a blonde male picking shards of glass out of the side of his head and face, along with some of his upper torso. Blood clearly stained his white dress shirt, but it had appeared to have stopped flowing.

A purple-haired girl stood beside him, helping him with his plight. Feeling ashamed and slightly stupid, she dropped the remains of the bottle to the ground, looking at her cousin as he began speaking, a relieved look on his face. "Relax, Kyouko-chan, nothing bad is going to happen to you."

"Well I know that now!" she replied, slightly disgruntled. "I mean, seriously, who the hell comes out of nowhere and randomly tackles someone?" all she received was blank looks from everyone present, causing her to blush as she remembered how she greeted Tsukune.

"I told you that it was a dumb-ass idea." that remark caused Kyouko to turn to the blonde, who had finally finished removing all of the glass shards from his person and was washing the blood off of him with some bottled water. She took her eyes off of Naruto and instead looked down at her feet, ashamed; she really could have hurt him, after all.

"Um, sorry for, you know, hitting you with a bottle and stuff." Kyouko rubbed her neck as she apologized. She was surprised with the ease of which Naruto brushed the whole situation off, however.

"No problem. I've been through much worse, trust me," the blonde said, waving his hand. His friends just sweat-dropped a bit, though, giving Naruto a dry look, knowing that it was true. They had heard not much compared to a severed head. Kyouko, however, noticed something.

"Hey, why aren't there any cuts on your face?" Naruto's eyes widened, along with everyone else, as he reached up to feel his face, feeling not even a minor imperfection of the skin.

_'Shit!'_ the blonde thought, sweating a bit. He had to think of a lie to play off Kyuubi's healing factor, and fast. "Um, well, you see," he began, scratching his head nervously, "I have a... cellular issue!" Naruto quickly said, glad that he had thought of something. He rolled with it, quickly making up some, what he hoped to be believable, bullshit. "Yeah, you see, I have this genetic issue that causes my blood to clot abnormally fast when exposed to air. It also has an unusual chemical in it that causes my skin to react and quickly knit itself back together."

"Oh," Kyouko said, believing what she was told. With that, she turned back to Tsukune. "That doesn't explain why you tackled me and dragged me back here!"

"Come on, Kyouko-chan, you were making a scene!" Tsukune tried to plead, but his cousin would have none of it.

"I know you're trying to hide something, all of you," Kyouko narrowed her eyes as they passed over everyone in front of her. With that, she began to turn and walk off, keeping her eyes on the group. "And I'm gonna' find out wha-..." as she began to walk off, Kyouko suddenly hit a solid wall, causing her to stumble back a bit before falling on her ass.

Looking up, she was shocked, to say the least, when she saw a giant, half-black half-white man with green hair, staring down at her with two yellow eyes. She gasped, startled, as she scurried away from Zetsu in fright. The man just kept staring down at her.

"W-what the hell?" she exclaimed, almost fearing for her life. She looked to her cousin and her friends, seeing if they were fairing any better. She was slightly confused to see that they appeared non-pulsed by the menacing figure, even slightly confused themselves why she was so scared. Then, all at once, it hit them.

All three of them remembered being thrown off by Zetsu's appearance when they first met him, something that lasted even weeks after before they just accepted it. So it was no surprise that Kyouko was so afraid.

"Who is this, Tsukune?" she almost yelled out, but more in an authoritative manner, hoping that it would make her cousin give an honest answer faster. She knew Tsukune had an answer, she could see it in his eyes.

"W-well," he stammered, "That's Zetsu. He's one of my friends."

The girl relaxed a bit at hearing that, enough to get back onto her feet and fully face her cousin. "That's nice and all, but why is he like..." Kyouko glanced back over to the man, standing rigid, his expression grinning nothing away, to see if he could hear what she was saying, and to make sure she wasn't seeing things, "_that_."

"Oh, that, well," Tsukune rubbed the back of his head nervously, realizing that his cousin was referring to Zetsu's complexion. Tsukune had always had a bit of trouble with lying, and lying to his cousin was even more difficult. He feared he would be found out, that everything would be found out, after she questioned his lie. However, hesitating wasn't helping his case, so he just had to wing it. "You see, Zetsu has a skin condition..." yeah, he couldn't think of anything else.

Fortunately, Kyouko just beamed him a smile and embraced Tsukune in a hug. "Aww, Tsukune-kun is finally making friends!" Tsukune just blushed at the comment while Naruto grinned and the other two had small smiles come to their faces at the boys expense. "Even if they are strange and freaky!" the smiles turned bittersweet at that comment, but it held up nonetheless.

"Yeah, you should meet my other friends. They're all kinda' strange." at that, everyone's grins disappeared completely. They knew that Tsukune didn't mean it with ill-intent and was just rolling with the situation, but that didn't stop Naruto from sending the brunette a small glare.

"You have more friends?" Kyouko questioned, genuinely shocked. However, the girl's smile quickly returned, and before anyone knew it, she was dragging Tsukune through the crowds. "Well, let's go see them!" everyone sweat-dropped at seeing the boy being dragged along the ground, getting dust kicked into his face from Kyouko's intense pace. However, they figured that they should follow their friend, so off they went.

/

As the gang reached their club booth, they discovered that Naruto's earlier prediction was correct; instead of the crowd thinning out any, it had, in fact, grown in size. Tsukune just looked on in dismay, comical tears running down his face to form mini-waterfalls. "What the hell is going on? All I want is to see my friends."

Naruto looked at the miserable sight in front of him and couldn't help but feel some pity for the boy. With a sigh, Naruto began to walk off, a plan forming in his mind to get the crowds to leave. "Hey, stay here. I'm gonna' go see something for a second. And, no matter what, don't leave this spot." with that, Naruto walked off, shoving his hands in his pockets as his friends and Kyouko stared at his back.

Eventually, the blonde found himself on the roof of the school, staring down at all of the people below him. _'Hey, Kyuubi? You listening?'_

**_'What is it?' _**replied the bijuu, wondering what was going on.

_'Tell me something, is it possible to focus you energy onto a certain location? You know, to make it so only a certain area can feel it?'_

In Naruto's mind, Kyuubi's eyes widened slightly at the question. **_'Actually, yes. Demons actually often flare their energy in a display of dominance while keeping nearby humans in the dark about their presence. However, it is a very difficult technique and requires a huge amount of concentration. But, on the plus side, if you can master this, it can help you tremendously with your control'_**

_'Well, I didn't ask about that, but thanks for the info. Anyway, it is possible?'_

_**'Yes, just focus on the area you want the power to be focused to; imagine a dome of power over that one place, and don't think about anything else.'**_

Naruto let a grin come up to his face as he brought his hands up in a seal and began to concentrate.

/

It came as a surprise to many to feel that enormous spike in power; the raw, foreboding energy that caused a panic in many who felt it. However, anyone who could feel it was mostly confined to the area where the newspaper club's booth was. The only exceptions were those who specialized in sensing energies. Either way, most anyone who felt it quickly left the vicinity of where the power was focused, fearing for their lives.

Kyuubi was actually quite surprised. He was not expecting Naruto to do such a good job at focusing the power to such a constricted area, yet, the blonde did it. Granted, it wasn't a perfect display, and the more power used, the harder to control, but it was a good first try nonetheless.

Naruto just grinned at seeing the result of him unleashing Kyuubi's power, people rushing away from his club's booth, leaving behind only his friends, including the girls left to run the stand. Keeping his grin up, the blonde jumped off the building and landed with a soft thud behind everyone. Since no one but those who knew about his abilities was in the area, he didn't really have to worry about anyone questioning him.

"Fuck, it actually worked," was all he said as everyone turned to him.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" asked Mizore, causing the blonde to look at her.

"Relax, only the people in this are could feel that. Besides, it worked, didn't it it? Now we can see the rest of our friends." Mizore just shook her head as the blonde kept on grinning.

"We were wondering when you would get here," Kurumu said, drawing attention to herself. "Then again, the crowd was pretty big, so I guess Naruto-san did a good job." the blonde nodded to the big-breasted girl in appreciation, glad that someone saw his plan as a good one. "So, how have you guy's been doing?"

The question was directed a Tsukune, quite obviously, who was a blushing and stuttering mess, due to finally seeing the girls' state of dress. He could now see why the crowd was so big. Idly, Mizore wondered if Naruto would have a similar reaction when he saw her in the maid outfit.

"W-well, we've been d-doing pretty good. W-while I d-did really want to see y-you guys, I also w-wanted to s-show Kyouko-chan here the r-rest of my f-friends." Tsukune was purposely averting his eyes all over the place, anything to keep him from staring at Kurumu, Moka, and Yukari and thinking about the costumes. However, the question from Yukari caused the boy to forget about that.

"Umm, who's Kyouko-chan, Tsukune-kun?"

"O-oh, she's my cousin," Tsukune answered the little witch a bit nervously. The girl, though, reiterated the question.

"No, I mean, where is she?" shocked, Tsukune turned around to find, indeed, his cousin was missing. The sight caused the boy to groan in despair.

"Not again. Where did she go this time?" the brunette looked up to see Naruto with his hand placed on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, we'll find her. Which way, Zetsu?" the blonde asked the twin-toned man, knowing he could sense a person's presence better than anyone in their current group. That was how they had found Kyouko the first time she had run off.

The man was silent for a moment before pointing towards an area near the woods. "She went off that way, about a quarter-mile into the forest."

"Well then, let's go!" for some reason, Naruto really liked the idea of tracking someone down. Brought him back to the days of before he returned to Konoha. Yeah, good times. However, in his good mood, the blonde didn't notice Zetsu's eyes widen.

"Wait! Another powerful presence just sprang-up right next to her. I suggest everyone arm themselves and we make haste." everyone was surprised. Zetsu never raised his voice. This must have come to a great shock to the man. Regardless, Yukari, Mizore, Kurumu, and Naruto took out their weapons of choice and quickly followed Zetsu along with Moka and Tsukune to Kyouko's location. They figured that they could leave the stand unattended for a while.

/

Kyouko had run the moment she felt the strange energy. The energy that had sent a tremor down her spine, the one that held a feeling of dread and death that she couldn't possibly hope to understand. She hadn't stopped to think why her cousin wasn't following her, or why, as she passed other sections of the fair, why the other people weren't running. All the girl knew for sure was that her life was potentially on the line if she didn't kick her ass into gear and book it as far as she could as fast as she could.

By the time Kyouko did stop, it wasn't because of exhaustion, she could have gone much further, but she didn't see the rock in her path and had ended up tripping over it. She threw out her hands to catch her, but still had a rather rough landing. Although, she supposed that she should consider herself lucky that nothing had happened to her leg or ankle worse than a light scrape.

Now that the adrenaline had worn off, though, Kyouko found herself very tired. Breathing heavily, the girl crawled up to a nearby tree and leaned her back against it, trying to collect her breath and thoughts. She didn't know what exactly what it was that she had felt back there, but she wasn't quite as afraid now. A bit wearily, she reached up and wiped a small amount of sweat on her forehead. She then allowed herself to just sit back and relax for a little bit.

Her relaxation didn't last long, however, as it was quickly replaced by curiosity. It just felt like something had just... moved inside her jacket. Cautiously, Kyouko reached a hand into her jacket and quickly reached into the internal pocket. When she removed her hand, she revealed a large envelope.

The girl looked at it curiously before the memory of how she got it hit her. Kyouko remembered being asked to deliver this envelope to the school by a mysterious person. She didn't ask questions at the time, considering that the person was actually helping her find her cousin, even telling her about the festival. But now, however, Kyouko had a desire to know what she was carrying, especially since she swore the package just moved in her hands.

Hesitating a bit, she turned the package over in her hands and undid the tie holding it closed. She then tilted it over and let its contents slide into her hands. What she found was probably the last thing she was expecting. Kyouko had expected maybe money, or documents, or pictures, maybe even drugs. If it had been the latter, she would have just tossed the package as far into the woods as she could, but, no, it wasn't drugs she had smuggled into the school.

Instead, in her hands Kyouko held a mirror. A well-crafted, oriental mirror. Idly, the girl wondered how long it had taken to get such detail into the work of art she held in her hands. However, another thought soon came to mind. Who was she supposed to deliver this too? Looking back at the envelope, she found nothing more inside, and there was nothing on the outside of it to indicate who it was meant for.

It was strange, but Kyouko turned her attention back to the mirror, again thinking it was shaking. And then, she looked into the mirror. Nothing happened and it reacted just like a normal mirror at first, reflecting her image back at her. However, then it started to glow, dimly at first, but it steadily increased in intensity, soon causing Kyouko to cover her eyes. When she opened them again, she was shocked to say the least.

A little, fairy-like thing was floating just above the mirror. She was dressed in a small, translucent dress and shined a kind smile down on Kyouko. "Hello," the fairy said in a light, airy voice. Kyouko just looked at it blankly as it bowed to her, still hovering in mid-air.

"Umm, hi," Kyouko awkwardly waved her hand in greeting as she regarded the fairy. This was different, the girl would admit. "So," she continued, a bit unsure of herself, "who are you?"

The fairy just laughed. "My name is Lilith, and I am the guardian of this mirror. However, you have freed my, and thus, have earned the right to one wish."

Kyouko's mood quickly did a one-eighty at hearing that, going from cautious to excited. "Really?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"Yep," Lilith replied, a similar smile on her face.

"So I can wish for anything, right?" Kyouko received a nod. Her smile grew as determination welled up within her very being. "I want to reveal this school for what it really is!"

Lilith laughed. "Of course." the fairy then looked over into the trees from the direction Kyouko had come from. "We'll start with them."

/

Naruto and his friends quickly approached Kyouko's last known position, knowing that the girl could possibly be in danger. Tsukune, quite predictably, was pushing everyone to go faster. It wasn't long before the group broke through the trees to a cleared out area.

Most of them sighed in relief to see that the dark-haired girl was unharmed, causing Mizore and Kurumu to temporarily dismiss their weapons, but everyone was still on edge when they saw the fairy floating near her, smiling at them. Naruto got a bad feeling about this. "Well, looks like you're just in time. I think I'll start with you guys." Before anyone could question what was going on, Lilith snatched the previously unseen mirror out of Kyouko's hands. She quickly flew over to them, laughing as the mirror began to glow.

Everyone knew that something was coming, but they didn't know what. Most were blinded by the light soon enough and couldn't really do anything. However, Naruto wasn't just going to take this laying down. The blonde quickly grabbed Mizore and rolled out of the way with the girl.

As the light disappeared, they found that Lilith, too, was gone. However, there were slightly bigger problems that needed to be confronted. What was the problem? Well, everyone that had stayed in the light was now in their true form. Tsukune and Yukari seemed to be the only ones left unaffected. And to top it all off, Kyouko was standing not ten feet away, eyes wide.

And who could blame her? The man who she had been told only had a skin condition had just had his face dehumanized, grew a few inches, and had plant-like appendages sprout from his shoulders, the blue-haired girl with the large chest just sprouted wings and a tail, and the pink-haired girl had just had her womanly areas enhanced, her eyes turned red, and her hair turned silver. Really, Kyouko didn't have a reason not to stare.

"**What's the meaning of this?" **Moka asked rather indignantly. The rosary was still on, so it was understandable why she was confused. No one had an answer for her. Instead, more questions arose as Yukari and Kurumu both latched onto Tsukune and began rubbing themselves up against his person.

"Hey, Tsukune-kun," the blue-haired girl began in a sultry tone, "Why don't we go somewhere and have some fun?" the way that the girl said it caused a shiver to go up the boy's spine.

"I-i really don't t-think this it the t-time, Kurumu-chan." the girls ignored the stuttered response and continued rubbing themselves up against the boy. Moka looked on in disgust before she approached the girls and delivered a quick knock-out blow to each one.

"**At least try to act serious, you pathetic vermin."** Naruto just continued observing the situation, wondering what was going on. Obviously, it had to do with the light form that mirror, making the blonde glad that he had dodged out of the way with Mizore. The question was, what exactly happened.

He didn't have long to ponder the question, he heard Kyouko cry out and saw the girl cling to Tsukune, tears rolling down her face. "How could you Tsukune-kun? How could you involve yourself with these people?"

"W-what are you talking about Kyouko-chan? The boy asked, slightly nervous. She couldn't have found out, could she?

"Don't play stupid! I know exactly what these people are!" everyone tensed at hearing that. They wondered what to do, seeing that they couldn't just let the girl go knowing about monsters all going to a school. However, their fears were quickly put to rest at the girl's next hysteric statement. "How could you get yourself involved with the yakuza?"

Everyone just stared at the girl blankly as she continued to bawl into her cousin's shoulder. "You're... kidding, right?" Naruto just received a glare from Kyouko as he spoke everyone's thoughts.

"You're one to talk! I mean, you're the one with the sword!" Naruto looked blankly down at his side and indeed saw his wakizashi hanging there. She then pointed to Moka. "And you! You're obviously trained in unarmed combat! And these two," here Kyouko indicated to Kurumu and Yukari, "are concubines for Tsukune-kun!" finally, she pointed to Mizore. "And I don't know what she does, but it's still obvious that it has to do with some type of crime business."

Naruto stared blankly as Tsukune tried to convince Kyouko that they weren't yakuza. Secretly, though, Naruto would admit that all the evidence put out in front of them including how they were acting did have some similarities with the crime underworld, and it was understandable for someone who only knew what Kyouko did to come to that conclusion. Hell, if he had a tattoo, he probably could pass as a mob member. Wait. He did have a tattoo. Naruto quickly decided that Kyouko didn't need to know that.

However, everything was soon forgotten as the ground began to shake and nearby trees rumbled. Soon enough, a large black frog-like creature burst through the curtain of trees right besides them, sending splinters and shrapnel everywhere, though luckily not directly at them. Acting on experience, Mizore, Moka, and Naruto quickly got into fighting stances while Tsukune pushed his cousin behind him in an effort to protect her. Everyone paused, however, at hearing a voice.

"Come now, there's no reason to be acting like that." from over the top of the creature came none other than the bus driver. That made sense, of course. If someone could drive a school bus capable of travel through a portal leading to a place that didn't actually exist in the world, it was only reasonable that the same person could control a giant frog-like creature.

"**You, explain what's going on."** the bus drive turned to Moka, a grin on his face as he exhaled a puff of smoke.

"It's quite simple, really. I'm looking for the mystical item this girl smuggled into the school. You may know it as the Lilith Mirror."

/

Meanwhile, Lilith was flying around the school festival, turning monsters into their true forms and unleashing their true natures. The small fairy enjoyed the sight of everyone ripping each other apart or gaining up to destroy the school. Little did she know, so did the figure hiding in the shadows on the roof tops, looking down at the destruction she had helped bring. The figure laughed, thinking that this would also bring about the end of that damned human who ruined her life. Kuyou may have failed her, but this plan would work.

Shadowed woman aside, Lilith soon saw a giant crowd of people encircling a giant stage. Looking closely, she saw a single man on stage talking to the crowd as three other people walked away. She allowed a wicked grin to come to her face as she flew down behind the man. The shine of her mirror caught everyone's attention.

Lilith's smile just grew as her mirror glowed and everyone was blinded by a flash of light. As it vanished, everyone was now in their monster form and began to attack each other. Idly, she noticed that the crippled man was missing, but didn't really give it much thought. With that, she left to find the next group of people.

The rest of the musical soon came out of their enclosure at hearing all of the commotion. Everyone was shocked at seeing all of the visitors and students in their true forms mauling each other. They also noticed that Konjyoyaki was missing. They all assumed the worst, which was rather hard for Ruby, but nonetheless agreed that they needed to inform the headmaster of the developments.

/

"So this Lilith Mirror can reveal someone's true nature along with their true form and as we speak is probably wreaking havoc on everyone currently at the festival." Naruto had just summed up everything that been explained to the group by the bus driver. "In addition to that, the spirit of the mirror is going to return to eat the soul of the one who released it after it is done, in this case, Kyouko. That also explains why everyone is the way they are."

"Yep."

"No, this is bad," Tsukune said, worried about what was currently happening at the school and what would happen to his cousin. Suddenly, he turned to the bus driver, a pleading look in his eye.

"Bus driver, do you think you can watch over my cousin and unconscious friends while the rest of us go find the mirror and put an end to this mess. I don't want any of them getting hurt."

"What?" asked Kyouko. She may not have understood everything that was said, but she didn't want to be left out of anything. However, she didn't get a say in the matter.

"I'm not a babysitter, kid, but sure, why not."

"Thanks."

"**That's great in all, but how are we going to find the mirror?" **asked Moka.

Naruto just grinned. "Do you really need to ask? Zetsu?" the blonde was met with silence. "Umm, Zetsu?" the blonde looked around, only to find the man missing. "How long has he been missing?" Naruto received shrugs all around.

"Hate to break it to you kid, but he was gone when I got here."

"Shit," was all he said in response to the bus driver. He then sighed deeply, knowing what this meant. "Looks like we're just gonna' have to get lucky and stumble upon the mirror. And standing around isn't going to help. Let's get going." the blonde received nods as everyone began to follow him, leaving behind Kyouko, the bus driver, and the unconscious Yukari and Kurumu.

A bit cautiously, Kyouko tuned to the bus driver, still perched atop his frog creature, only to find the man looking at her with his creepy glowing eyes. "So..." she began, "What's with the eyes?" all she received was a grin.

/

Up on a hill over looking the school grounds, one person watched all of the events unfold. The person held no emotion on their face, as if they didn't even register the destruction going on not even half a mile away. That was because to them the outcome of the riot was inconsequential, because it was inconsequential to their master.

The figure let a small smile come to their face. According to him, they were the first successful subject their master had in a while. That filled them with a feeling of pride, knowing that they would stay to serve for a long time to come. The person quickly schooled their features, however. While outcome didn't matter, they still had a job to complete in the midst of the chaos.

Sickly green eyes narrowed as the owner noticed a figure on the roof of the school, watching, waiting, just like them. Though, they doubted that their presence there was as important as their master's goals. Another grin came onto the figure's face. They had just found their first subject. They would help fully run the test their master required on his creation. With that, the person started on their way to the roof.

Mr. N wanted to test his new formula completely, wanted to see how her natural abilities helped to administer it, wanted to see if its effects on her weren't just a fluke. Mr. N needed multiple subjects to be injected, and Mako was only too happy to oblige.

/

Naruto's group continued through the festival grounds, searching for the damn fairy with the damn mirror to fix this mess. Along the way, the group took out who they could using non-lethal force in an attempt to lessen the damage the school would face. It wasn't long before the group came to an abandoned part of the festival.

Everyone moved cautiously, their steps seeming louder than they actually were due to the unnatural silence that permeated the air. Not even the wind moved as the group moved through the area, everyone watching there surroundings, on the look out for the tiniest sign of movement.

A small shiver went down Naruto's spine. The blonde had a really bad feeling about this. However, he didn't find a reason to actually say that. Deep down, he knew that the thought was mutual. Suddenly, Naruto's danger sense went into overdrive, causing the blonde to bring up his blade.

And it was a good thing he did, as the sound of metal meeting metal came to everyone's ears, causing them to put their guards up. Turning their heads, they all saw Naruto deadlocked with a monster who's arm had turned into a giant mace. It was clear that Naruto's strength was giving out by the way his arm was shaking, trying to hold the attacker off.

Luckily for the blonde, Moka quickly came up and kicked the monster in the head, sending him flying into a booth which promptly collapsed on him. **"Pathetic. I don't see why you couldn't have taken him yourself."** the blonde glared at the girl's comment, but quickly noticed something. More monsters were coming out from everywhere, surrounding the group.

They quickly got back-to-back, keeping their distance as eight monsters of all shapes and sizes closed in on them. Suddenly, Mizore's voice cut through the tension. "Wait, somethings not right here."

"Your right. These guys haven't worked together against us at all until now. You think they're getting smarter?" asked Tsukune. Mizore, however, quickly put that idea to rest.

"Not that. Look at their eyes." everyone did, and came to a startling realization. As they looked into their opponents' eyes, they saw that they were all the same shad of green, the exact same shade. A shade that Naruto thought looked too familiar.

"**Big deal, they have the same eyes. That won't save them."** with that, Moka rushed forward, engaging one of the monsters. There was more to it than that, though.

_**'Wait,can't you feel that power. It is similar to that one you fought before... Yakasu.' **_Naruto froze at hearing that, shocked that whatever had happened to his old teacher had happened to these guys. However, the implications were even bigger than that. It meant that the cloaked man had done this. It meant that these guys had to be killed for their own good.

Knowing what he did now, the blonde made an announcement. "Guy's you need to kill these ones! I can't explain now, but keeping them alive is more harm than good!" predictably, Tsukune had a problem with this, but Naruto didn't care. Instead he rushed in, intent on killing these guys and putting them out of their misery.

Now that he knew that they needed to be killed, Naruto was having an easier time fighting, but it was still difficult. The blonde jumped back and used the brief break in fighting to tap into all of Kyuubi's chakra that he had time too. It wasn't much, but it increased his speed and power more than enough to get the job done.

Before long, the enemies all had blood gushing from them, all on the ground as life slowly left their eyes. Tsukune wasn't too happy about it, however. "Why was it necessary for them to die?" he asked angrily.

"They had the same problem as Yakasu." Mizore's eyes widened at hearing that, but the other two were just confused. Before they could ask, the girl just said that she would explain later. Before the group could continue on their way, a laugh stopped them. They all spun around, only to see a woman familiar to three of the friends.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't a bunch of brats." the woman grinned at them, showing elongated teeth. She was dressed in a simple white top with black pants and had her head wrapped in a bandana to cover her blonde hair. However, what caught Naruto's attention most was her eyes. The same green of the others that the group had fought.

"You!" said Tsukune, pointing an accusing finger at the woman who just continued to laugh. Mizore and Moka also looked at her with contempt, but Naruto was slightly confused.

"I know that this probably isn't the time, but who is she exactly?"

"Ishigami-sensei used to be the art teacher here at Youkai Academy. That is, until the newspaper club discovered that she was kidnapping female students and turning them into stone statues. We defeated her and she got fired. It was in the paper." said Mizore, all of her attention focused on the woman.

"Riiiiight, now I remember," said Naruto, not wanting the others to know that he had never actually read the school paper.

"You ruined my life!" Ishigami yelled, enraged at all of them, even if Naruto had nothing to do with it. The grin soon returned to her face. "But that's okay. Soon, this school will be nothing but a pile of dust, Just. Like. You. All because that stupid girl brought the mirror here."

"It was you who gave Kyouko-chan the mirror!"

"My, how perceptive of you," the teacher mocked, angering Tsukune. However, it seemed Moka had had enough.

"**That's enough. We've defeated you once before, I'm sure it won't be that hard to do it again." **with that, the silver-haired vampire rushed off and quickly appeared before the woman. She sent a kick straight for her head.

What happened next seemed to go in slow motion. Ishigami moved up her hand and actually caught Moka's leg, surprising everyone and causing the vampire's eyes to widen. Ishigami's grin just seemed to grow as the older woman the swung the girl around a few times and sent her right into a booth.

"Fool, I've grown much stronger since we've last met. You don't possibly stand a cha-AAAGH!" Ishigami was interrupted as a sword tore through her arm and was ripped back out again. Through the haze of pain, she saw Naruto pull his wakizashi back by the rope it was attached to.

"You talk to much," was all he said as he lapped the blood off of his blade. Usually, he wouldn't do this, but if this woman could toss Moka around like a rag-doll, Naruto wasn't going to risk it. Quickly, the blonde cut himself and let the blood drip to the ground. Before he did anything else, though he turned his head to Mizore. "Hey, take Tsukune out of here. Go find the mirror and get everyone back to normal. I'll protect Moka and take care of her," Naruto indicated to Ishigami, who was still clutching her injured arm.

"What? No, you need all the help you can get," began the brunette. He just received a glare from Naruto.

"Are you stupid or something? Your cousin's life is on the line; the fate of the school is on the line. We don't have time for all of us to be fighting this bitch. Now go!"

"**He's right. We don't all need to be fighting her." **everybody looked over to see Moka coming out of the wreckage she was thrown into, slightly limping. A grin soon came to her face. **"Besides, the less people here, the less people I have to share this bitch with."**

Tsukune clenched his fist as he thought over everything that was said. "Fine," he admitted. The two had good points, and they still needed to find the mirror. He looked over to Mizore and nodded his head. "Let's go." she started to follow, but sent one last look back at Naruto.

_'Be careful,' _she thought before running off. In seconds, they were out of sight.

"That was foolish." the two remaining friends turned to look at Ishigami. She was still holding her arm, but her smirk was back. "After all, you know what the say," as she said that, she began to change.

First, what seemed like snakes began to grow out of her scalp, thrashing and hissing. They continued to grow before they seemed to just envelop her body. Suddenly, they fell away and dispersed, revealing the woman had disappeared. "Hey, does this normally happen?" Naruto asked Moka.

The vampire shook her head. "No." Naruto narrowed his eyes, but began to get to work. He started to draw his symbol on the on the ground, and was almost done the triangle, before the ground gave a slight tremor. Looking up, Naruto didn't have time to stop the blow that sent him across the ground and into a pile of rubble.

Looking up, the blonde felt his eyes widen. In the spot he was just occupying was, what he assumed, Ishigami. Those snakes had reformed and had seemed to multiply, before coming back together and forming a giant snake about fifteen feet long and three wide. In Naruto's eyes, it was absolutely repulsive, especially since it seemed to pulsate with every move it made.

The creature turned its slit green eyes onto the due and seemed to grin before it hissed out, **"There'ssss ssssafety in numberssssss!" **with that, it launched itself at Naruto. The blonde quickly dodged out of the way, watching as the creature smashed down where he was not a second before. The creature just seemed to laugh.

That was, until, it received a super-powered kick to the back of its head, causing it to slam into the earth. It hissed in pain and looked up to see Moka, grinning down ad it. Seeing an opening, Naruto rushed back over to the symbol and quickly completed it. His skin quickly changed, and the blonde wasted no time in stabbing himself. He smiled in delight, but noticed something was wrong. There was no yell of pain.

Turning around, Naruto saw that the snake had no sign of damage whatsoever. In fact, it was smiling. **"I'm afraid that trick won't work." **with that, Ishigami went for another strike. Naruto was shock, too much so to move. Why hadn't his technique worked? It always worked!

He looked at the symbol and saw that it was done correctly, so what was wrong? When he looked back up, he saw that there was no time to move and prepared for the impact that was to come. However, what happened next was a surprise.

All he saw was a white flash, before the head of the snake flew off. What he saw caused his eyes to widen. It looked like a glowing orange orb right in the center of the snake, pulsating in tune with the smaller reptiles that made it up. His view of the orb was soon cut off, though, as the snakes that made up the head and body shot towards each other and seemed to reconnect, reforming the snake.

It hissed in rage and turned to its left. **"Why you! I"ll have your head!"** Naruto looked over to where the snake was looking, only to see Konjyoyaki. He stood from his crouch, ice blade shimmering in his hand. He turned to the snake.

"I'll have to pass, I'm afraid. Naruto, you saw it, did you not?" the man took the time to look at the blonde. "That's the weak spot."

The snake seemed to hear this and hissed.** "Like hell I'll let you near it! You can't sssstop me!" **it reared its head back and shot it quickly forward, sending out a grey glob. Konjyoyaki dodged out of the way and watched as it impacted the rubble behind him, turning it into stone. He turned his eye back to glare at the beast.

"Look at you! You're a bastardized version of what you used to be! Don't you even care that you aren't in full control?"

"**Why would I? I now have the power to accomplishhhhh anything I desssssire! You are nothing but a free meal!" **one of Moka's kicks sent the beast back, allowing Naruto to jump up and stab the beast in the eye and gouge it out, gaining an advantage and causing the beast to screech in tremendous pain.

It shook the blonde off and sent him flying into the air, a place where movement was limited. He watched as it opened its mouth, preparing to swallow him. Desperately, Naruto looked for help, only to have his eyes widen at seeing Konjyoyaki actually holding Moka back from helping. _'That bastard!'_ he thought before his world went dark.

The snake chuckled as it swallowed on of its adversaries. Soon, its saliva would turn him into stone before its stomach crushed it to dust. Greedily, it eyed its last two opponents.

Moka just looked at Konjyoyaki in obvious displeasure. **"What were you thinking! We could have saved him and you let him die! What the fuck is wrong with you?"**

"Relax." Moka seemed about ready to yell at him, before he turned his gaze back onto him. "Just trust me on this." the snake noticed that its prey wasn't moving and took advantage. It got ready to turn the two to stone, but suddenly stopped. A blinding pain made its way through the snakes being, causing it to let out an ear-shattering squeal.

Moka watched as the snake started to bubble horrifically, expanding and shrinking, before it finally just seemed to implode and dissolve at the same time, sending green goo everywhere. Konjyoyaki quickly dodged out of the way along with Moka, avoiding the mess.

They watched as something rose up out of the epicenter of the mess, before attempting to wipe itself off, revealing Naruto. He seemed to glare at the man who let him be swallowed. "You fucking dumbass! What the hell were you thinking?"

"Hey, the things dead, isn't it?" he asked, taking a drag from his cigarette. Naruto looked about to retort, but he was stopped. "Your jobs done. While we were fighting the snake, I had Zetsu recover the mirror. Things should turn back to normal shortly, and your friends are probably all reunited. You should probably clean off and go see them, get Moka-san back to normal as well.

Naruto glared at the man as he turned and walked away. "Fucking bastard," he said before he too turned to find his friends and a place to clean off. Moka looked on, amused by the display as shown by her smirk, before following Naruto. That was rather entertaining, but she needed to return to normal as soon as possible. It wasn't good to remain like she was for long.

/

From the rooftops, Mako watched the events unfold, a frown on her face. It would appear that the formula still didn't work as intended for some reason like it did to her, and still caused the subject to mutate, even if it could grant the subject more power.

Her frown just grew deeper; she did have to report this to Mr. N, after all. He would be... displeased. However, she couldn't just keep this from him, she had a duty, one that she would complete. Still apprehensive on the whole matter, Mako began the journey to her master, unaware of the single orange eye watching her narrow as she left.

/

When all was said and done, Naruto knew that things could have gone better. Of course, they could have just as easily gone worse, but the blonde didn't really want to think about what that may entail. True to Konjyoyaki's words, Zetsu had retrieved the mirror and was with the bus driver and their friends, waiting for them.

Now in control, the bus driver had Lilith change everyone back, starting with them. As he left, Tsukune was once again confronted by his cousin, a serious look on her face. She said she really knew what this school was about now, causing people to start to sweat again. Of course, the fear was once again unfounded as she said it was obviously an acting school, and that they were doing a very good job. Seeing that that was going to be the best he would get, Tsukune went with it.

Once the whole school was back to normal, the chairman came out with the announcement. He said due to the damage the school had suffered, it was no longer safe for anyone to stay there and it would need to be put under heavy construction before it was a usable facility again. That being said, he continued by announcing that the students could stay one extra night to gather their stuff and say their goodbyes, but that the visitors should leave now.

So that brings us to the current scene. Naruto and Mizore were standing across from each other, their other friends having already left after saying their goodbyes. The two stood there, awkwardly. Naruto truthfully feared this day would come, and still wasn't sure what to do.

Finally, he just decided to go for it. "So... I guess this is the last time we'll be seeing each other for a while," he began, rubbing his head. "I'm really going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you to, Naruto-kun. I had wished we could spend a little more time together."

"Maybe we can." Mizore looked up at him curiously, causing him to think over his next words. "Umm, Mizore-chan, it's not much, but... would you like to spend the night together?"

The girl just looked on, watching the boy shift uneasily, a blush on his face. Slowly, she began to smile. "I would like that. Thanks, Naruto-kun." it was then that the blonde too smiled.

/

So the two had spent the night together, just sleeping in each other's arms. When the morning came, Mizore gave Naruto one last kiss to remember her by, soft and gentle, before she left to start packing, leaving her blonde boyfriend to do the same. It wasn't that hard foe him, he hadn't brought much to begin with.

With that done, he walked out of his dorm, left the key on the door like he was instructed, and began on his way to the bus stop. Along the way, he realized it didn't really matter where he went, it's not like he had had a permanent residence, he didn't have a job, nothing. In theory, he could just stay in the woods around the school and continue to train until he was a master of controlling Kyuubi's energy.

The blonde's thoughts were cut of as he quickly turned, thinking he had sensed something. He carefully analyzed the area before turning around, writing his feeling off as nerves. As he turned, all he saw was a black shadow moving towards him with speeds that made it impossible for him to block or dodge. He didn't even have a chance to brace himself as the shadow impacted with his head, fracturing his skull and sending Naruto crumpling to the ground, unconscious.

The shadowed figure that was left just seemed to look down at the boy, a sick grin slowly spreading across their face. Things were coming together perfectly.

/

And there you have it. I hope the ending was suspenseful enough for you, and if not, oh well. Now, as you may already know, I'm not going to update this story for a while, since I feel I've been neglecting my other readers. I also want to think the next part of the story out better. I already have the next two chapters, but I want to think more than that. So I probably won't update until October. Sorry guys.

Oh what's gonna' happen next? It's such a shame that you'll have to wait and find out, heh. You know, I just realized I've been on the sight for a year now, so I guess I should celebrate my anniversary somehow. Maybe I'll do a one-shot, but I don't currently have any ideas. If you want to see me do a one-shot and have an idea, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do. If multiple people do it, I'll pick the one I like most. On another note, fuck! Even after I edited unimportant scenes out and condensed some, I still couldn't get this chapter under 10,000 words. So, yes, this has been yet another chapter brought to you by your fellow author, Acolyte of Truth, totaling 13,090 words. See ya in 1.5 months, Acolyte out!


	16. Male Bonding

Hey, how's it goin'? I really did want this chapter out earlier, but problems came about for both me and my beta, Lykaos, that had to be dealt with. So, I hope you enjoy the chapter. As always, thank Lykaos for being my beta. Now, read on and find out what exactly happened to Naruto.

/

Disclaimer: I don't have enough creative juices to come up with something even remotely witty, so I'll just say that I don't own shit besides the concept of Konjyoyaki and leave it at that.

/

Chapter 16: Male Bonding

Naruto groaned as he regained consciousness. His head was throbbing, he could feel the blood pumping in his ears, and he was definitely disoriented. He moved to grasp his head, an instinct that he thought would help ease the pain a bit before Kyuubi finally heal him, only to find the his hands were restrained behind his back. "Shit," he hissed out in anger.

What was more was that it felt like someone had used the rope on his wakizashi to do it. As he rolled over on his side, Naruto could definitely feel the jagged metal of the blade through his thin shirt. Wait, where was his jacket? As he began to move again, he finally realized that his legs, too, were bound together. This only elicited another swear from the blonde.

At least his senses were starting to return to him. Using this opportunity, Naruto decided to take stock of his rather... confined surroundings. It was pitch-black, that much was easy enough to tell. Not even a single sliver of light managed to penetrate the abyss of darkness.

There was a slight rumbling that seemed to drown out all other sounds. In fact, that combined with the fact that little tremors he felt caused Naruto to think of the bus that had brought him to Youkai Academy, only the characteristics were drastically lessened.

His thoughts were cut off as suddenly, the flat surface he was on sloped drastically to the right, causing him to slide headfirst into a barrier. The impact was only increased as the surface leveled out right as he hit. Naruto didn't have time to say anything as he quickly popped up and hit the low ceiling of his prison. "Son of a bitch!" he shouted out. Well, at least he now had a better understanding of his surroundings.

Now utterly pissed, the blonde glared into the darkness, imagining the things he would do to his captor once he got free. Though, that led to some questions. Who, exactly, captured him? Was it that bastard that got him here in the first place? What was it that Konjyoyaki called him? Oh yeah, Mr. N. That was his best bet. Then again, from previous encounters from him and his minions, that didn't seem likely. He would be confronted directly or left in the dark as a henchman stood right in front of him. He wouldn't be captured.

Of course, what did he know? All he knew was the guy's apparent name and that he was working on something that changed people into bastardizations of themselves. Fuck, he didn't even know what the asshole looked like under that damn cloak. Naruto growled at his situation. He was pretty much back at square one in his deductions.

Knowing that he probably wouldn't figure anything out until he was freed, the blonde let himself get as comfortable as possible and relax. Slowly, his eyes began to drift shut. Naruto allowed it. There really wasn't anything better to do than sleep right now. And who knew, maybe he would get an idea when he woke up.

/

Naruto didn't know how much time had passed when his blue eyes snapped open. He only knew that something had changed, otherwise his reflex wouldn't have kicked in. and then he felt it. What ever he was in had begun to quiet, the motion beginning to slow. Something was going on.

The blonde shifted his position, trying to find out more about what was going on. That when he discovered that his legs were no longer tied up. A savage grin came to Naruto's face. Oh yeah, whoever the fucker was that trapped him was going to pay now. He just needed to show himself.

Suddenly, everything seemed to stop. The low and idle rumble cut off completely and all movement stopped. There was a faint bang, like that of a door closing, before the sound of footsteps graced the blonde's ears. Anticipation welled up in Naruto as the sound got a little louder the closer it got.

Then, there was a faint click, and Naruto could see a small strand of brilliant light. The blonde jumped at the chance for freedom. He sprung forth from his confines, legs poised to kick his captor, the sudden explosion of light from knocking his prison door open temporarily blinding him.

He had expected the fucker to be standing directly in front of him. He was wrong, of course, and landed roughly on the ground, tumbling across the dirt and scraping himself on some gravel. The blonde wouldn't be deterred though. He quickly corrected his path of travel and hopped back onto his feet, facing where he was moments ago.

And there the asshole was. Konjyoyaki was standing next to one of those automobiles Naruto had seen in the human world where he had entered from the portal, a few feet off from where the blonde had launched himself, looking as stoic and passive as ever. Yeah, Naruto was gonna' kick his... wait, Konjyoyaki?

"You... wait why the hell... what the fuck... what the hell is that thing?" Naruto was at a loss for words. Deep down, he knew he should have at least suspected Konjyoyaki was somehow behind this. Yet he hadn't. So now he was left wondering what the hell the bastard wanted. Of course, he was so surprised that he couldn't quite get that out. In the end, he was left pointing to the machine the crippled man was slightly leaning against, wondering how he got one.

Idly, he turned his one eye onto the thing. "This?" he asked as if talking about the weather. "it's called an automobile, more commonly referred to as a car."

The car, as Konjyoyaki had put it, was sleek in design. It had four thick, black wheels with strange markings going all around the circumference of them. From what Naruto could see, it had two doors with mirrors sticking out. There was also a panel sticking up from what the blonde assumed was the back of the car. However, above all else, it was... orange.

"More specifically," Konjyoyaki continued, causing Naruto to look back to him as he reached into one of his main pockets and retrieved a booklet with a picture of the car on the cover, "A Nissan Datsun 370Z." the man read off the inscription on the front mechanically before returning it to his pocket." Naruto just stared at him.

"Oooookay. Why is it orange?" now, it was Konjyoyaki's turn to look at Naruto. Then, he just shrugged.

"I thought you would have liked the colour. Truthfully, it was the first one I could find that had its ignition source in it."

"So you stole it?" all Naruto received was a nod, as if Konjyoyaki didn't have a problem with that. Personally, he didn't either. Taking a closer look at the car, Naruto's attention was once again drawn to the protruding panel, and saw a small compartment that may have been covered by it. "Wait, was I in that?" he asked. Once again, he got a nod. "But, it's so small. How did I fit in it."

"It's actually quite spacious, and you're actually quite small." Naruto shrugged off the jab about his slightly shorter than average stature and turned his gaze back onto the white coated man as he closed the panel on the car.

"Alright, why did you bring me here. And why the hell did you have to knock me out?"

Sticking to his previously laid behavior of acting like he didn't give two shits about what was going on or had expected everything thus far, Konjyoyaki shrugged. "It's easier than having to explain everything before hand. And then I don't have to listen to you bitch on the way over here. Plus, I don't want the upholstery ruined by whatever stupid shit you may do. As for why here, it's a perfect place to train."

As Konjyoyaki said that, Naruto was enticed to look around. The car had come up on a gravel road, before it had merged into smooth earth. Off to the sides, tall pine trees reached up to the sky before the ones to the left parted a bit to reveal a pristine lake. Directly behind him, a tall, rock crag had formed,encircling the area there and leaving the only true entrance the way they had come.

"What do you mean train?" asked Naruto after he had surveyed the area. As he asked that, Konjyoyaki finally decided to show some emotion.

He just snorted. "You're kidding, right? First off, any well trained shinobi would have found a way out of their bindings by now. It shouldn't even be a question of time in your case considering that rope on your sword is a special chakra conductive material. In other words, you should be able to control the direction it goes in. Hidan obviously didn't teach you well, or you would have known that. And then there's the fact that your not particularly fast, or smart. You could work on your strength a bit. Your about as stealthy as an ox herd. You don't use all of your abilities to your advantage. You lack control in stressful situations and fail to plan for the future. To be absolutely blunt, as a shinobi, you are one of the worst I have ever encountered. If it weren't for the fact that you're immortal and posses the Kyuubi, you would have no redeeming quality's whatsoever. And even for an immortal, your pain tolerance is severely lacking. In fact, your raw potential is really the only thing that really makes up for your short-comings."

Having all of his abilities critiqued only made Naruto angry. He growled at Konjyoyaki before replying with a, "Fuck you! I didn't ask to be kidnapped so you could 'help' me."

At this point, Konjyoyaki let a little anger leak into his voice, more from frustration than anything. "For once would you stop being an idiot who lets their emotions dictate everything they do or say? Think! Realistically, you have nowhere to go, nothing better to do than to let me help you."

"And what makes you think I want your help? Maybe I can just leave this whole thing behind me! I'll take Mizore-chan with me and return home!"

Konjyoyaki just shook his head at that, letting out a dry chuckle. Naruto stared at him, wondering what was so funny. "You stupid fucker. What you fail to realize is that the portal you ripped open with Kyuubi's power didn't drop you directly on the other side. It opened a dimensional rift and deposited you in a random part of the world. Quite frankly, you're lucky you didn't end up in the sea, considering over seventy percent of this world is covered in water."

Naruto paused for a moment at hearing that. 'Wait, is it true that I didn't come in where the portal was?'

Kyuubi was silent for a moment before responding. 'I was going to tell you eventually. But think about it. Why would you have been the only one to go there? There were three other people also sucked in with you that weren't there. One thing Konjyoyaki is right about is that you don't think.'

Naruto growled silently to himself before he noticed the cripple had stopped talking, apparently having the decency to let him confer with Kyuubi. He soon continued, sensing he was done. "I'm the only one who knows where the portal is; the only one who can get you home. And the only way I'm going to tell you where the portal is is if you help me kill Mr. N. And the only way that will ever happen is if you let me train you. If not, this world and everyone in it is doomed."

Naruto contemplated his choice, really having no say in the matter. On one hand, he could put up with this asshole and eventually return home. On the other, he could leave and have everyone die. The choice was obvious, "Fine, but on one condition," Naruto said, angry about being trapped like this. He was going to get something in return for this, something that would prove that he wasn't the dumbass Konjyoyaki made him out to be. "I want to know about you: your history, your abilities, and, most importantly, what you know about Mr. N. I want to know your stake in this, why this is so important to you."

Konjyoyaki just smirked at the determination in the blonde's voice. "Very well. In that case we'll start in the morning." Naruto was about to ask why not start right now, when he noticed that it was starting to get late. The stars were visibly, like little, sparkling diamonds in the sky as the moon crawled along the horizon. Konjyoyaki walked over to him and quickly undid the binding on Naruto's arms. "Get some sleep," was all he said before he walked away. With that, Naruto sealed up his wakizashi and just lied down on the ground before drifting off to sleep once again.

/

That night, Naruto didn't sleep very deeply. He was on edge. As far as he knew, the man who had just kidnapped him was several yards away, probably not even sleeping. He was partially right. Konjyoyaki wasn't sleeping. In fact, the man was currently sitting cross-legged by the lake, trying to meditate. The cigarette in his mouth would glow in tune with his steady breathing.

He heard the night, all the creatures just trying to live, survive, just to keep their species alive. Such a simple existence. Konjyoyaki envied it. Why couldn't a human's life be so simple? Why were they such social animals, making bond with others, despite the knowledge that they might be turned on. Even if they weren't, they would just eventually die, their bonds destroyed.

However, even if Konjyoyaki was against it, even he had bonds. He didn't like to admit it; bonds could be exploited, innocent people hurt. Even knowing this, the man couldn't bring himself to actually want to dissolve the bonds. Even when he had left Kiri, he had tried to remain in contact with his team. He really had to wonder if human's really were such advanced creatures.

Regardless of all these thoughts, times like this made Konjyoyaki relaxed. This deep, contemplative state that many people often didn't have time to get into. It was also time like this that allowed him to rest. Now, Konjyoyaki wasn't an insomniac by any means, but he was able to rest, think, and stay on guard all at the same time.

At that moment, Konjyoyaki's eye snapped open. He realized that he would need some actual sleep. That thought in mind, he stood up and began to dig a fire pit. It was going to get cold tonight, so he had to make sure he could stay warm.

/

Naruto was rudely awoken the next morning by something hitting him in the head. Hard. Here's a hint, it was Konjyoyaki's foot. The blonde shot up, grasping his now throbbing skull. "What the fuck man?" he shouted, turning his head towards the offender, eyes still bleary from sleep. Of course, that was to be expected, as the sun wasn't even peeking over the horizon yet, only its radiant light.

Konjyoyaki, meanwhile, was looking down at his new charge, disdain in his eye, contradictory of his lax stance. "You asked for that, we're burning daylight. Now get off your ass and get ready for training." grumbling, Naruto got to his feet, ignoring Konjyoyaki's call of, "Hurry the hell up." the blonde just glared as finally got up and fully faced his tutor.

"What time is it?" asked Naruto as he rubbed his eyes, trying to awaken himself fully.

"It's time for you to start earning my respect," was Konjyoyaki's simple answer. "I'm going to need to trust you for what's going to happen. I'm going to need you to be at your best. And that's never going to happen until we start training."

"Wait, what do you mean, 'for what's going to happen'? What's going on?"

"Relax, it's not for a while off. I'll tell you more tonight, but for now, I need you focused. Now, the way I see it, we can split training into two main sections. During the day, you will undergo physical training. At that time, we will improve your speed, strength, stealth, and pain tolerance. I might even teach you a few jutsu, since you seem to be lacking in that area. We good so far?"

"Yeah, I got it. I'm not an idiot, you know" that last part was grumbled under Naruto's breath, but Konjyoyaki heard him any way.

"Yes, you are, and the sooner you can come to terms with that, the better. That's why during the nights, we will be going over strategy, general knowledge, and try to deal with the problems that prevent you from being the best you can be in battle. It will also be the time when I tell you about myself. Now," as he said this, Konjyoyaki shifted his position, lowering his center of gravity and putting his arm forward, ready to attack, "This exercise is relatively simple. You simply have to avoid getting hit for five minutes. This will test your speed, reflexes, and pain tolerance. Get ready or regret it."

"Wait, what?" asked Naruto, shocked. "How the hell am I supposed to fucking dodge you? Without even trying you're one of the fastest people I know! Shouldn't we start with something easier?"

"Stop making excuses!" Konjyoyaki barked. "I'm well aware of the fact that you will never be able to fully dodge me with the time we have. That's why I'll be holding back. As for why we're starting with this, it's because we don't have time to waste if we want to teach you everything I have planned. Now take your stance. I'm being nice enough by waiting for you."

Naruto just grumbled, knowing that he really had no choice. If he tried to run, he would be easily caught and beaten down anyway. At least this way he preserved some of his dignity. So, with that, he lowered him self and got ready to dodge like a mother-fucker.

However, as soon as his knees began to bend, Konjyoyaki shot off, catching the blonde in the stomach with a punch before spinning around to deliver a kick to his head. Naruto, caught by surprise, gasped in pain as he flew low to the ground and slammed into a tree.

"Wh-what the fuck?" the blonde managed to gasp out. He was holding his mid-section, trying to get some air back into his lungs. Personally, he was glad that he hadn't eaten anything yet, or else it may have been all over him right about now. To add to that, there was a deep cut on his forehead, running from above his left eye, which was squeezed shut to keep the blood running down his face out, to the temple.

Konjyoyaki just snorted at the sight. "I told you to get ready. Now get up, we're starting over."

Naruto slowly got to his feet a Kyuubi worked to heal his container the best he could. He was a bit shaky, but that was to be expected. Luckily, he was still cognitive enough to dodge out of the way as Konjyoyaki slammed his fist right where his blonde head used to be, deeply cracking the tree. He was not, however, lucky enough, to dodge as the cripple lashed his foot out and caught his shoulder, causing Naruto to hiss in pain.

Immediately, he knew that his arm had been knocked out of the joint. So, to help the healing process along, he quickly snapped it back into place, the only sign that he felt something being a slight cringe. However, he never took his eyes off Konjyoyaki. "What the fuck! I thought you were going easy on me!"

"Rule number one: never take what people say at face value, especially shinobi," he responded as he turned to his human punching-bag. "And for the record, I could go much harder on you. Now shut up and start dodging!" in his mind, Konjyoyaki sighed. As he once again landed a solid hit on Naruto, he knew his work was cut out for him.

/

It was now around noon, the sun at its apex in the sky. The two had stopped for a quick break only once so far, to have a light breakfast of some granola Konjyoyaki had packed. Naruto felt slightly better after that, but then went back to being a tool for the cripple to take some repressed frustrations out on. However, it wasn't all for naught. The blonde could now probably dodge around four hits from Konjyoyaki moving at half speed before being knocked away.

Naruto was heavily panting now, having spent the last several hours pushing his body to the limits. His legs screamed in agony and his lungs burned from the exertion he had put them through, his upper torso was racked with pain from the blows dealt their. Even his eyes hurt, being forced to track such a fast moving target for so long. However, he had Kyuubi on his side to help alleviate some of the problems he was suffering from.

Konjyoyaki didn't have the Kyuubi to help with his problems though. Truthfully, his lungs felt like they were about to burst, even if he did a good job hiding that fact. He had never been what you would call an endurance fighter, something he attributed to his years of smoking and his one major downfall... or maybe it was his second. Either way, it was why he had aligned his strengths away from endurance.

It was why he focused on speed, to dance around his enemies defenses and land a fatal blow. It was why he focused on stealth, so his enemies never knew he was there and couldn't put up a fight. And now, he was paying for it.

Ignoring the pain, Konjyoyaki once again rushed at Naruto. The blonde managed to dodge by ducking behind a tree. The cripple quickly followed, losing sight of his target for only a moment. He sent a kick at the blonde's jaw, something Naruto easily dodged. He wasn't able to move fast enough, though as that same foot came down on his skull.

His foot came down so hard that Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke. Konjyoyaki scowled, not expecting to hit a clone, and was forced to quickly correct for the lack of substance under him, spinning a bit before bringing his foot down completely. He stood there for a moment before jumping up into a nearby tree.

A moment later, Naruto was sent flying from that very tree head first. He landed and skidded across the ground before he was stopped by a foot slamming down on his chest. Konjyoyaki stood before him, gazing down with his one eye.

"While it's nice to see you working on your evasion skills, this test is about raw speed and pain tolerance." Konjyoyaki gave Naruto a good stomp to the chest to emphasize that last point. "However, seeing as you have made good progress on your first day, I've decided to be generous. I'll get some lunch ready, you take a break, and afterward we'll get started on stealth training." and with that, Konjyoyaki left the blonde on the ground to do what he had said.

"Bastard," Naruto mumbled under his breath before beginning to get up. He almost regretted accepting this training now. And he was going to regret it a lot more later.

/

It was a few weeks later, and Naruto definitely regretted taking Konjyoyaki's training. That wasn't to say that he wasn't making any improvements. In terms of speed, he was able to dodge the cripple's onslaught for about a minute with him at half speed. His strength had improved, no doubt about that, and his stealth skills were the best than they had ever been in his life.

However, Konjyoyaki still saw one major flaw in Naruto's skill set. And that was his ability to use a blade. Which explained why the cripple was currently using an ice blade to jab at the blonde who was clumsily trying to swat the crystalline blade away.

"Come on! Keep your guard up!" he shouted, slipping the blonde's serrated blade up and taking a swipe at his mid-section. The blonde jumped back, missing the blade and returning with a strike of his own.

Konjyoyaki easily twirled out of the way and sent a downward slash at his temporary student, catching him in the hand and kicking the newly released blade away. He followed up by stabbing the blonde deeply in the shoulder.

To Naruto's credit, there was barely a wince as the freezing blade penetrated his shoulder. Instead, he called upon some info that Konjyoyaki had told him. Pumping some chakra into the rope that was around him, he controlled the blade and sent it after his attacker.

It wasn't exactly as fast as he wanted it to go, but it still caught Konjyoyaki by surprise. The man jumped back, but not before receiving a small gash on his leg. "Hmm, not bad, but you could still use a little work. You need to hold your sword a little higher for better leverage and weight distribution."

"Right," Naruto said. He had learned a while ago that if Konjyoyaki gave him advice, he should take it. The cripple nodded in approval and the two once again clashed with their blades. This continued for a few more minutes before Konjyoyaki called for a break. "But we've barely gotten into it," said Naruto. Usually he wouldn't question taking a break, but he found it a little odd.

"I know, but I think it's time I taught you something else. Follow me." so, sealing up his sword, the blonde did just that, following his mentor right up to his car. Before he could ask what was going on, Konjyoyaki turned to him. "Get in," he said, before going to the left side of the car.

Naruto was left going to the right. He opened the door and climbed in, only to be confronted with a strange wheel with a strange board behind it covered in weird gauges. "What the hell?" he asked, turning to Konjyoyaki.

"I realized that I should probably teach you to drive. Now," with that, he handed over some strange key, which Naruto just looked at. Eventually, he found where it was supposed to go and turned it on Konjyoyaki's instruction, watching as the board lit up with more symbols. "Now, just so you know, most cars have the driver sitting on my side, but this set up fits my condition better. Besides, your left handed, so it will be easier for you to learn." idly, Naruto wondered how he knew he was left handed, but let it slide. Instead, he hooked his belt and 'put it in drive', as Konjyoyaki said. As he began to move forward, he hoped that he wouldn't fuck this up too badly.

/

A few nights later, and Konjyoyaki and Naruto were sitting around a fire that Konjyoyaki had made. Naruto was now losing the regret he had earlier on in training, as the results were definitely showing. His skill with a blade was better than he ever thought it would be, and so was his speed. He could now dodge Konjyoyaki for up to two-and-a-half minutes with him moving a half speed, something that blonde thought was a sort of accomplishment. His lessons in driving weren't that bad either, much to his surprise.

And best of all, he was learning a lot. Not just practical knowledge, he was also learning a bit about his mentor as promised. So far, all he knew was that Konjyoyaki was born in the outskirts of a small village some twenty-five miles away from Kiri, had a sister, Haku's mother, and a brother, and was one of the famous seven swordsmen. Really, it was stuff he already knew, but he was beginning to see how Konjyoyaki ticked. Or, at least, he thought he did. He still had many questions to clear some issues up. For instance, despite what the cripple had said, he had yet to learn what exactly was coming. He practiced restraint, though, and decided that it would be brought up eventually.

Then again, Konjyoyaki also wanted some things cleared up. Sure, he thought that his student was developing at a marvelous rate, past his expectations, but he still had some concerns. One was that he hadn't really worked on helping the blonde deal with his emotions. He feared that in a real fight, the blonde would let his emotions drive his actions and cause him to forget everything he had learned. It would be six months, wasted.

Then there was the fact that he felt that there was something... off about Naruto. There was something he felt that prevented the blonde putting his all into a fight until it was necessary. Now, while Konjyoyaki thought that it was unnecessary to brutally beat down your opponent with flashy maneuvers, he thought that one should use a proper amount of power to end a fight quickly and efficiently.

However, he had noticed that Naruto hesitated. He stopped himself from using all the powers at his disposal, especially around his friends. And that's what concerned Konjyoyaki. His student relied mostly on his immortality and Kyuubi, a combination to trick his enemies into thinking he was dead before being completely healed and taking them by surprise. But what about an enemy that knew all of his tricks? The blonde rarely used his curse technique, so that was a secret that would take most anyone by surprise, but to the cripple's knowledge, the blonde had only used it once, and that was because he was pissed.

So, Konjyoyaki needed to sort this problem out before this break was over. He needed to get the blonde to use things like jutsu a bit more judiciously. But to do that, he needed to find out what the problem was. "Hey, kid," Konjyoyaki said suddenly, catching the blonde by surprise. He was poking the fire to keep it going when Konjyoyaki's voice reached his ears. "I need to ask you something," he continued.

"What?" asked Naruto, curious. This was unusual. Normally, it was him who asked the questions while Konjyoyaki answered. Of course, the cripple didn't answer everything, but this was still a strange occurrence.

"I need to know, you rarely ever use your curse technique, or any other jutsu for that matter. Why is that?"

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto, trying to play stupid. From the start he knew it wouldn't work, but he had to try, even if it did just annoy Konjyoyaki.

Of course, that's all it did. "You know exactly what I mean. You know what, forget regular jutsu, I'll just chalk that up to you actually thinking and trying to blend in. I'll let that slip if you start using them in real fights. But you are gong to tell me why you won't use your curse technique, a gift from your 'god' himself."

Naruto growled a bit a that. He didn't like how Konjyoyaki referred to Jashin-sama, the tone in his voice. There was no need to insult his faith. "Exactly, it's a gift, something that should only be used in special occasions."

"Really," Konjyoyaki asked speculatively. He could tell Naruto was getting indignant, and really couldn't blame him, but this was something that needed to be pushed out of the way. "Hidan seems to disagree. From what I remember, he would use that any chance he got."

"Well, that's his choice. There are different ways to show our faith. Besides, making the symbol is time consuming. An enemy isn't going to stand around while I use blood to draw on the ground and stab myself."

"I would have to agree, but I would still expect you to try, to find a way around that. That leads me to believe that something else is preventing you from using it." a look of contemplation came across Naruto's face, and there was a tense silence for a bit. Then, Konjyoyaki told Naruto his theory, taking a shot in the dark. "This has to do with Haku, doesn't it?"

Naruto remained silent, before he spoke, his voice low and weary. "I promised myself, that day in the forest of death, that I wouldn't use that technique for anything but defending those people important to me. And even then I don't want to use it. It... only seems to harm my relationships."

"Huh," Konjyoyaki grunted, "so you do it to protect your relationships. I will admit, it is rather brutal to watch, but let me ask you this, your friends have seen you use that technique, haven't they?" he received a nod. "And they think nothing less of you. They are true friends who like you for you, not because you pretend to be something you're not. As long as you're not overly vicious, they will remain by your side. Understand that they are monsters, accustomed to violence. They can understand things better than most people, and Tsukune is no exception to that. He has hung around you guys long enough to understand that things are just that way. Shinobi are only human. Most can try to understand that, because they make a living from violence, but many young people can't seem to wrap their heads around that. What I'm trying to say is that Haku wasn't ready to be a shinobi. She was to peace-loving. She couldn't understand why a shinobi like you did the things you did."

"You're just saying that because you have something against Haku," Naruto growled out. He would admit that some of what Konjyoyaki said made sense, but he didn't like him insulting his dead girlfriend. You would think he would have more tact since she was his niece.

"You want to know something," Konjyoyaki interrupted. "Do you want to know why I became a shinobi?"

Naruto was a bit surprised at that. Truthfully, he was kind of curious, but he didn't understand why he was changing subjects. Still, he was angry, so he asked, "Why?" rather harshly.

"My onee-san left the house when she was twelve, I was five. It was because our tou-san had tried to teach her to be a kunoichi, but she had refused him at every turn. She was a lot like Haku, actually, more about conflict resolution and peaceful negotiations. The point is, tou-san thought it was because he had waited too long to begin teaching. He began working on me immediately. Despite the fact that I only wanted to be a simple bartender, I developed fast. Seeing this, tou-san decided that an even younger child could develop even faster. I was nine when my imotou was born. My kaa-san refused to let him be trained so soon. Tou-san, angry, killed my kaa-san and then tried to do the same with me. He torched our house and I never saw him or my imotou again."

Naruto sat, held completely by the story. He was unmoving as he gazed at Konjyoyaki. As he told the story, no emotion was shown on his face. He just stared into the fire.

"Injured, I began to crawl away from the scene. I don't remember how long I crawled, but I was eventually found by the Mizukage. He took me in, knowing what I was, but he knew that I could be of use to him. I trained even more, doing the only thing I was good at. The whole time, I wondered why my onee-san didn't take me with her. When I was ready, I went off to find her. She was only the next village over. When I got there, I found her, dead, along with a bunch of other villagers and her husband. All were impaled with ice. When I asked what happened, I discovered that apparently a small girl had done it. She was a bloodline carrier. I put two and two together. Haku had inadvertently caused the last of my family's death. But I didn't blame her for that. I didn't blame my tou-san for what he did, either, I just wanted answers, not revenge. The real reason I was so hostile towards Haku was because whenever I looked at her, I saw only my onee-san. It was her I was mad at. Do you remember what I told you when you went after Sasuke?"

realizing that he was being addressed, Naruto thought back onto that day. "You said to tell Haku that you were sorry."

"Exactly. I realized that I was being unfair to her. A bit too late, apparently. I don't regret what I said, Haku wasn't meant to be a shinobi. She became one out of necessity, almost like me. I guess I also saw a bit of myself in her, and that's what I was angry about. I couldn't do anything when I was needed most by my family. I'm not discriminating against her, I'm only saying what's true." As he finished, he looked up to the sky. "I hope you think about what was said here. The point is that you may have to do things you don't want to, you may do things you regret, but your friends will still love you if they're your true friends. Now, go to sleep."

With that, Konjyoyaki walked off, presumably to think, leaving Naruto to think himself about what was said. Needless to say, he didn't get much sleep that night.

/

And what you have just read is more than eleven pages of filler. It's important filler, but filler nonetheless. So, yeah, sorry to keep you guys on hold for so long, but last month was dedicated to another fic which actually didn't get updated at all. So, yeah. I wanted this out earlier, but problems arose. I won't say what, as you probably don't care, but all that matters is that this is out now.

So, some of Konjyoyaki's past is revealed, the reason why Naruto doesn't use his cures technique (which you would have already known if you had just read the prequel ) is... re-revealed? And I'm starting on the second season of Rosario+Vampire. Expect more plot twists as the story progresses.

In other news, I have a pole up in my profile page. Been up for about a month now, and I want opinions on what story I start next. None of this stories sequels are options as this series is my primary focus and I'll do this as often as possible. I'm thinking of putting preview chapters for each story. Tell me which ones you would like to see them for. And with that, this chapter is over. This has been a chapter by Acolyte of Truth, totaling 6,711 words!


	17. Back to School

How's it goin' guys? Yeah, still trying to get back on a regular schedule here, but I don't know how long it will be until that actually happens. I'll also try to get the word count back up, as I have many good ideas for this section of the story, and even more interesting ideas later on. I can't wait till you see them all, as their bound to contain many twists and turns until the end... hopefully.

/

Disclaimer: inset you own witty comment here about how I don't own Naruto, Nissan, or anything else that may be incorporated into this story besides the original plot lines and characters.

/

Chapter 17: Back to School

Naruto stood in the field, his posture lax as he stared his opponent down. Blue eyes met orange, and neither party was willing to let the other one win. Naruto suddenly clenched his hand into a fist, anticipation getting to him as the seconds ticked by, turning slowly into minutes. Konjyoyaki, meanwhile, stood completely still, almost as if he were an ice statue. He didn't even blink as he looked down his student.

A gentle gust soon blew across the field, prompting the blonde to quickly jump into the air. That was the signal to begin. And it was a good thing he did, because not half a second later, Konjyoyaki was right there, sending a flurry of punches and kicks at Naruto, most of which were blocked of dodged.

However, a few managed to hit home, and before Naruto knew it, Konjyoyaki was above him, delivering a sharp ax-kick down on his head and sending him barreling down to the ground. Thanks to his training, however, the blonde was able to right himself in mid-air and land on his feet.

He didn't get very long to recover, though, before Konjyoyaki was on him again. He jumped back just in time as the cripple hit right where he was standing less than a second ago, cracking the earth a bit. With his one eye, Konjyoyaki looked up to his target, a silent message being transferred between them, before he lashed his hand out, an ice blade forming in his hand.

Naruto took a few steps back and unsealed his own blade, taking up a stance the man currently attacking him had taught him. This was his final test. This was where he put everything he had learned over the past few months against the man who had taught it to him. Of course, there were a few ground rules.

First off, Naruto could not use Kyuubi's chakra for anything but healing himself. Secondly, he could not use his curse technique. This was a test of raw skill. He could use his jutsu, though, but he had to be strategic about it. In return, Konjyoyaki could only move at sixty percent of his top speed and could only use his ice blade. All in all, Naruto thought that the conditions were fair enough.

Thanks to his heightened reflexes, Naruto was able to bring his wakizashi up and deflect the ice blade, but he was caught by surprise as Konjyoyaki used his remaining momentum to swing his foot at Naruto's hands, using enough force to nearly break them. Luckily, it didn't come to that. Unluckily, it sent his sword flying away from him.

"You need to keep a tighter grip," Konjyoyaki said idly as he swung his blade down in a wide arc. Naruto dodged by rolling to the side, then caught the follow up strike with his hand. It earned him a nasty gash, but also bought him some time.

Using the trick he learned, he channeled chakra through his blade's rope and sent it speeding towards Konjyoyaki. He wasn't a master of the skill in any sense of the word, but he liked to think he was at least proficient.

Konjyoyaki, sensing more than seeing the deadly blade coming, simply jumped over the blade and, using the leverage he had with his own sword on Naruto, spun the blonde around so his own blade impaled his back, all the while ripping his ice blade from his grip. Naruto didn't even wince.

Reaching back, he dislodged the serrated blade from himself and then flicked it to get some of the excess blood off. Slowly, his wounds closed shut, but his shirt was now ripped to shit and covered in blood. He had managed to keep his clothes in a relatively good condition up until now, but all that maintenance seemed to be wasted effort.

While he was studying himself, Naruto failed to realize that Konjyoyaki wasn't going to give him that much time to regain his bearings. Or any, for that matter. Almost immediately, he was on the offensive again, sending a spin kick straight into Naruto's head, sending him careening into a tree. He managed to position himself so the impact was less painful, though. He still landed in a small patch of weeds.

Undeterred, Konjyoyaki followed, leading with his blade. Naruto just barely managed to roll to the side and quickly lashed out with a few kicks before springing back up to his feet. He then followed up his assault by clashing blades once more.

Metal met ice as each force pushed back against each other. Despite his handicap, Konjyoyaki was still the stronger of the two and managed to push Naruto back. However, he soon let up, taking Naruto by surprise as he suddenly overbalanced.

Taking Naruto's head in his hand while still holding his blade, he brought it down to meet his knee. At impact, Naruto vanished in a cloud of smoke. It had seemed Konjyoyaki had anticipated this, though, as he didn't even bat an eyelash.

Hearing a faint whisper of "Rasengan," the cripple casually turned around and caught the hand holding a swirling blue ball that was aimed to drill him through. He glanced impassively into Naruto's glaring eyes as he drove the hand by the wrist down into the ground.

The energy stored in the ball exploded outward and scarred the ground with a deep crater. The power also blew Naruto back and sent him crashing into a tree. Konjyoyaki, meanwhile, gracefully landed on the ground after being blown back. As he righted himself, he turned to Naruto.

"Nice try, but you should know better than trying the same trick on me twice. Nonetheless, I would have to say you have proven yourself. You pass this test."

"Thanks," Naruto said as he slowly stood back up. His head was still spinning from the last couple of blows, and it was taking a bit to get his equilibrium back. He was slightly surprised as Konjyoyaki approached him and helped him to regain balance. "So what now?" he asked idly.

"Now?" Konjyoyaki repeated. "Now you can relax. I received word that Youkai Academy would be opening back up tomorrow, and your training is officially done." At hearing that, Naruto's eyes widened, slightly. He knew they had spent a lot of time training, but not enough that the school would be fully repaired. Even though he noticed this, Konjyoyaki continued on. "We have nothing more to do. You may spend the rest of the day however you wish. I will give you a ride in the morning, but until then, please leave me alone."

With that said, Konjyoyaki left to sort some things in his head out, leaving Naruto alone by their campsite. Considering he really had nothing better to do, he did a few more exercises before praying for the rest of the day. Even as he did these things, though, he could only think about Mizore.

/

Konjyoyaki was worried. That was highly unusual for the normally stoic and reserved man, but he wasn't willing to kid himself into believing everything would be okay. Now, considering that when he lost both his eye and arm he wasn't worried, or even when he awoke in this strange new world with unfamiliar faces staring over him, it would seem strange that anything worried the man. But there was something. Two somethings, to be exact.

The first was Mr. N. Konjyoyaki wouldn't lie to himself and say he wasn't even slightly afraid of the man. In fact, he was slightly terrified at the lengths he knew the man could and probably would be willing to go. It would mean that he would also have to be willing to go further than he wished, which was saying something. But that didn't worry him, just irked him.

What worried Konjyoyaki about Mr. N. was that he would need to be prepared for anything. He knew that the man would be waiting for him to slip up. When the time came, he would be forced to remain on guard indefinitely, or he would fail. The problem with that was, despite the fact that he didn't show it, Konjyoyaki's health was deteriorating little by little every day. By his own calculations, if he didn't constantly over exert himself, he had about two years left before the damage to his lungs became too much.

Quite frankly, he was amazed that he was still able to do all the things he was in his prime. He supposed that he would have to credit that to his... tou-san. Even in his mind, the word was filled with disdain. Mostly because the man had provided both the problem and the 'cure' at the same time. But that wasn't the point, because he also knew Mr. N. was looking for something. And he knew that it would take a while to find. Therefore, Konjyoyaki had a little time to rest. But, he still knew that the man would become more active even before his little 'project' was completed.

That brought about Konjyoyaki's second worry: Naruto. He would admit, the kid's progress in his training was impressive. It just wasn't enough. It had also taken six months to get to where he was at now, he didn't know if he would have even close to that same amount of time anytime soon, of before it was too late, for that matter.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that they would be hard pressed to beat Mr. N. the simple fact of the matter was that he had more time, more leverage, more knowledge on their activities, and probably more resources and help. They would need to get at least one of these to stand a chance at winning, and straight away Konjyoyaki knew that victory would lie within man-power, as that was the asset he could attain easiest.

He already knew who he would need to talk to for help, but he wanted to put that off for now. Approaching him would prompt Mr. N. to become more aggressive, and Naruto just wasn't ready. He also wanted to put off asking for help because he knew that something was expected of him in return, something Naruto could help him with, but he wanted to keep Naruto out of it for as long as possible. Simply, it was a game of biding time, and Konjyoyaki didn't have much. He needed to stop thinking for now to relieve some stress.

/

Naruto was awoken the next morning with Konjyoyaki nudging him in the side with his foot. Right away Naruto could tell that the man didn't get much sleep and had spent most of the night trying to clear his thoughts. The man may have tried to hide it, but Naruto could tell after spending so much time with him. It had happened before, after all. Turning his blue eyes away for a moment, Naruto saw the sun about a quarter way above the horizon.

The next thing he knew, something was dropped on his chest and he was told to go bathe. So, rubbing the remaining sleep from his eyes and giving a good stretch, the blonde hopped to his feet and did as instructed. After a good soak, he saw that the thing tossed onto his chest was a brand new uniform, shoes and tie included.

The blonde soon walked out from behind the trees, the red cloth of the tie visibly poking out from his pocket and his pendant in its place. He had his green blazer thrown over his shoulder and was carrying his old uniform under his left arm, thinking he might find a use for the scrap later. He found Konjyoyaki leaning against his car and received a nod from the one armed man before he was tossed a food bar before being told to get in the car.

The blonde obliged, shrugging on his blazer as he climbed into the orange vehicle, not really bothered by he man's passive-aggressiveness, having long grown used to it. In an unrelated topic, he had to admit Konjyoyaki was right, the colour really was starting to grow on him. He didn't fully buy the fact that the orange car was the first one he found that he could easily steal, but didn't really think any different of the man.

After hooking his belt and beginning to slowly eat his breakfast, Konjyoyaki climbed in, hooked his own belt, and started the car, the only sounds being the engine and the sound of loose gravel being shifted around by the tires. When they met paved road, though, it was only the engine and Naruto's occasional bites.

The two met no one on the country roads, and the scenery soon started to blend together. The car's environment soon became extremely monotonous, especially without Naruto's spread out bites to add variety to the interior once he had finished the bar. It soon became taking, he only reason the radio wasn't playing being the fact that neither man knew of it's existence. Naruto had once asked about the strange panel with knobs and display, but Konjyoyaki couldn't find anything about it in his manual, and wasn't willing to just 'start messing with shit', as Naruto had so eloquently put the first time. So, it came down to who would break the silence first.

It was, of course, Naruto, about half an hour after they had initially set off. While stopped at a red-light placed at a remote intersection, Naruto turned to his crippled teacher and asked the probing, "Hey, Kon?" he received a grunt in response as the light turned green and the man took his hand from the wheel and shifted to a higher gear after taking off before returning the appendage, prompting the blonde a seat over to continue. "I was wondering, back during the school festival, when you were singing," momentarily, Naruto noticed a slight grimace come to Konjyoyaki's face before he continued, "it sounded like you were p;acing hidden messages in the lyrics and trying to tell me something without actually coming out and saying it. Now, I'm not gonna' question why, since you got me and Mizore-chan together, but I want to know what you were trying to tell me."

Naruto could see Konjyoyaki smirk even before he was finished speaking, obviously finding something he had said amusing. "You know, not every message requires you to read between the lines. In fact, most of those lyrics you could take for face value." Naruto tilted his head slightly in a gesture for Konjyoyaki to continue. The man remained silent, though, concentrating as he once again shifted gears, the car drifting slightly at the higher speed. As he regained control, Konjyoyaki continued. "It's very simple, really. I've seen a lot in my life, and a lot has happened to me, as you know." Here, Konjyoyaki's smirk softened and turned bittersweet. "I've lost people whom I both respect and care for, whether they be dead, or just gone. I know that we're in for a tough battle when the enemy finally makes his move, and I'm being forced to work with you because you're the only ally I have right now that's actually worth shit."

Despite Konjyoyaki's slightly harsh words, the blonde had grown on him. During their time together, he had gotten to witness Naruto's tenacity full force, and had to admit he was impressed. He was definitely determined, and completed any task given to him with the best of his ability. The blonde still had his faults that got on his nerves, no doubt, but he still had a greater respect for the kid than before. That was why he didn't tell Naruto that he was dying.

He was sure that it wouldn't affect the blonde too much, hell, it might even relieve him, but Konjyoyaki wasn't willing to risk it. He didn't want to mess with the kid's head that way right now. He couldn't afford to. He needed Naruto to be in a healthy emotional and mental state at all times to preform at peak efficiency. He just couldn't risk it.

Beside him, he could hear Naruto grumble a bit. "Yeah, well, you don't have to be a jackass about it." Naruto never saw Konjyoyaki wistfully shake his head slightly, an amused smile on his face. All the blonde thought was that at least he had killed some time, and it wouldn't be that much longer to their destination. Or so he thought.

/

It was another hour before the car reached a familiar tunnel. By this time, the scenery had become a bit more residential, the various houses giving something for Naruto to look at to avoid being too bored. His eyes lit up at seeing the tunnel, though. He remembered it from the first time he had arrived at Youkai Academy. Of course, with that memory came the image of the bus driver. Naruto didn't say this often, but that dude was one crazy mofo. Even thinking about it sent his spine tingling.

Of course, he also remembered meeting Tsukune on that bus. It was still funny at how awkward the boy was, and remembering how he scared the brunette. And to think, all he wanted at the time was a friend. Oh well, he had them now. That was what counted, right? Of course it was. So, it was with a contented, nostalgic smile on his face that the car pulled into the tunnel.

All the flashing and swirling lights caught Naruto off guard, as lost in his memories as he was. He didn't show any outward signs of shock, however, besides a slight widening of the eyes and his back straightening a bit. After seeing this once, it was a lot easier to take in.

Before long, a white light was visible and growing rapidly. Konjyoyaki put more pressure on the accelerator, blasting the car faster towards the brilliant light and out of the tunnel. Naruto was forced to squint his eyes from the shock and when they opened again, he saw the familiar grey, dead trees that marked the Youkai Academy woods.

He was about to thank Konjyoyaki for the ride and get out of the car before he realized that the man hadn't stopped yet. Instead, he made a sharp right turn into the wood, the car pitching forward as he did so. Naruto's head almost smashed into the dashboard, put he managed to stop he momentum by placing his hand on the surface, refusing to let go afterwards, forgetting about the 'holy shit' handles, as he had dubbed them after Konjyoyaki explained their use straight from the book.

"What the fuck?" the blonde yelled out as the orange car swerved dangerously around trees. Konjyoyaki's face remained impassive as he violently jerked the wheel sideways, sending the car into a spin before it was facing the way it came. With that, he calmly turned off the engine and got out of the car. A few seconds of staring forward like a zombie and white-knuckled gripping of the dashboard later, Naruto followed, a bit more aggressively. "Hey, what the hell was that?" he shouted, wanting to know what possessed the man to cause him and drive so the blonde's life flashed before his eyes.

Konjyoyaki just dug through the trunk before he retrieved a duffel bag and tossed it to the surprised blonde. "That's yours," was all he said before getting out a tarp and closing the trunk. Naruto just stared, bag in hand, as Konjyoyaki spread the blue material over his car and secured it down. That down, the man looked back, seeing Naruto not moving. "What are you doing? Go to the academy, get your schedule, and meet up with your friends. I'll see you later, but I have things to do now." Naruto stared a few seconds longer before just letting it go. He would probably never now what that was about, and probably didn't want to, for that matter. With that, he flung his bag over his shoulder and started off in the direction of the school.

/

It was easy enough to navigate his way through the woods, he was a shinobi, after all, but it was as annoying as hell. The main reason for that was that Naruto didn't even know where he was starting from, thanks to a certain cripple who probably learned to drive from an asshole bus driver who shouldn't be on the road in the first place. In short, the blonde didn't know what fucking direction to go in.

Though, thanks to the previously state skills Naruto had been honing, he soon got a good feel for which direction to go in. closing his eyes and focusing, he could soon here the faint sounds of other students making their way around the school. What's more, he could also feel people in that direction. Konjyoyaki had only touched on energy sensing during their training, stating it would be a waste to focus on a skill the blonde would neither master nor truly use regularly. It seemed what he was taught was enough, though.

So, now with his destination located, Naruto made off in that direction, not really bothering to get there as fast as he could. Of course, with his recent speed increase, Naruto had lost any previous gauge of his speed he had had was now gone. The blonde pretty much flew through the woods, bursting out of the trees and startling a small group of students talking nearby. Naruto watched them run off, idly making a note to himself. "Okay, need to work on going a bit slower."

That out of the way, Naruto just walked along as if nothing had happened. He went a bit wide-eyed at seeing the school when he came to it, though. It was definitely larger and it looked like this design was a bit more extravagant than before. In the end, it was still a glorified cathedral in architectural sense.

Naruto's shock soon passed and he carried on to the office to get his schedule like most of the other people who hadn't found their friends yet. As he was walking along, the blonde saw a flash of colour out of the corner of his eye. He stopped in his tracks and turned to fully look at the person who caught his attention. A smirk soon formed on his face as he made his way to the unsuspecting individual.

/

Mizore was just walking along, looking for her friends among the crowd of students. It was a seemingly impossible task, considering just how many people around her there were, but she wouldn't give up. Among all of her friends, there was one in particular that she wanted to see, however.

Naruto. She had thought about him everyday since the school had been closed down, remembering their first kiss and the night they had become a couple constantly. It didn't help that her mother was constantly going on about how the wedding was going to be wonderful and how she couldn't wait.

Regardless, Mizore was hoping that Naruto would ask her to marry him. The two may have started out as just friends, but now she felt such a stronger connection to him. But for now, she just wanted to see him again. That alone fueled her search in looking for the blonde. Maybe she would find Zetsu and he could help her.

That would have to be put on hold, though, as suddenly her eyes were covered, seeing only darkness. The girl stiffened, preparing to floor the person who was touching her, when she heard a voice and stopped. "Guess who. I know it's been a while, but maybe this will help jog your memory." with that, Mizore felt the person turn her around, remove her lollipop, and kiss her passionately, the hands now gone but her eyes still closed.

As the kiss ended, a smile came to her face and she opened her deep blue eyes. "Naruto-kun," she said happily. The blonde matched her happiness with a cheeky grin.

"Who were you expecting?" his question was answered by another kiss, Mizore throwing her arms around his neck and shoving her tongue into his mouth. Naruto reciprocated by placing his hands on her hips and using his own tongue. While it was true neither had ever done this before, they were to happy to care.

The couple's blissful moment was ruined by another familiar voice. "Hey, get a room why don't you?" the two removed their heads from one another to look at who had spoken, only to see Zetsu. The disguised, twin-toned man was leaning against a nearby tree, his arms crossed over his chest.

The green-haired man pushed off from the tree and approached his two friends. "Hey, haven't seen you in a while, Zetsu," said Naruto, trying to make idle talk as Mizore playfully snatched her candy back. The man shrugged.

"I took the liberty of exploring the world a little more. There's some pretty interesting stuff here." Mizore didn't say anything, knowing that this was a talk between two people from a different world entirely. It was sometimes hard to remember that. "So, I heard Konjyoyaki-san was training you. How did that go?"

"As well as you expect." as he said that, Naruto put his arm around Mizore's shoulder, prompting the girl the rest her head on his arm. "So, what do you guys say we find the others? Tsukune's probably praying for some relief in one form or another right about now." Naruto received agreement on both ends and soon the three were off.

/

As Naruto predicted, Tsukune was in trouble. Not that it was much of a surprise. Then again, most males at the school would envy him right now, and probably would kill him for his place. Hell, people _had _tried to kill him for that very reason. As of that moment, Tsukune was being fought over by Moka, Kurumu, and Yukari. Suddenly, the youngest one switched her attention from grabbing Tsukune's leg to groping Moka's breasts, causing most males watching to blush and get perverted ideas. Naruto, Mizore, and Zetsu all shook their heads in amusement and started towards their friends, the latter hanging back behind the other two.

Tsukune was having trouble breathing. For a while now, his friends had been fighting over him. He had only arrived minutes ago before he was seemingly tracked down and attacked. Kurumu had immediately attached him to her marvelous bust while Yukari began to claw at his leg like a lonely kitten. Moka had been pulling him back from the blue-haired succubus, but then something happened and he was fully caught captive in the marshmallows that were Kurumu's boobs.

Blackness was slowly encroaching on the edges of his vision, and most of the rest was obstructed by yellow, but out of the small percentage that wasn't, Tsukune thought he saw several figure approaching him. Of course, he could just be delusional from the lack of oxygen. He didn't really know.

Luckily for Tsukune, or his health, at least, he wasn't hallucinating. There were actually people coming for him. He realized this when he heard a cool, quiet voice that he remembered after all this time. "Hey, you trying to kill him or something Kurumu? I thought the idea was to sleep with him first." Kurumu turned around, releasing Tsukune and allowing the boy to breath, looking for who had spoken to her along with Moka and Yukari. They were pleasantly surprised to find Mizore and two more of their friends.

"Mizore-chan," said Kurumu happily, walking towards her friend, the others behind her, though Tsukune was a little cautious in case he was grabbed again. "I see you found Naruto and Zetsu." As she said this, she regarded both in turn with her eyes. Suddenly, an idea came to her as a smirk formed on her face. She leaned in close to the taller girl and whispered to her, making sure to be loud enough for the others to hear. "So, what about you? Have you and Naru-kun slept together yet?"

Both Naruto and Mizore blushed a bit at the question, knowing the implications of what was being asked. While it was true they had technically slept together, it wasn't in the way Kurumu meant. "N-not exactly," Mizore stuttered out quickly.

Kurumu just grinned though. "Oh, calm down, you know I'm just playing." With that, she let out a soft chuckle. With that over, the group began to drift apart a little, the girls circling around one another and the guys doing the same.

"So," Tsukune began slowly, "How have you guys been?" Naruto and Zetsu shared a small, unseen glace, and the moment their eyes met, they agreed that they wouldn't tell the brunette things he didn't need to know.

"You know, fucked some shit up, killed a few people, stuff like that," Naruto said with a shrug. Deep down, Tsukune knew he should be disturbed both by what was said and how it was so causally talked about, but he didn't really expect much else from the blonde. And he didn't regret befriending him. He may be some homicidal, immortal, ninja monster thing, but that wasn't really the point. With that sorted out, he turned to Zetsu.

Sensing it was his turn, the twin-toned man replied simply with, "I visited a few countries."

The brunette waited for more, and when it didn't come, he prodded a bit. "Such as...?"

Zetsu just shrugged. "All I'll say is don't stray to far from Japan. This world is fucked up." Tsukune and Naruto just sweat-dropped.

/

Eventually, the friends had to depart and find their home rooms. Those who hadn't yet gotten their schedules went to get them and find out where they needed to go in the first place. Naruto finally got his after a long wait in line and quickly headed to the first room number printed on the paper.

Truthfully, he was hoping he wasn't too late. He didn't really want to make that bad of a first impression and have the teacher hounding him for the rest of the year. He was also hoping that he had a friend in home room. But, really, he just wanted it to be Mizore. The reason was obvious enough, he was dating the girl, after all, and hadn't seen his love for six months. It was hard on him, truly, and he really wanted to catch up.

Another, more strange, thing he was hoping for was to have Konjyoyaki as a teacher. Half a year ago, he would have wanted as little to do with the man as possible, regardless of his disposition of him. All the problems that surrounded Naruto to begin with, and Konjyoyaki seemed to want to instigate something with the root of the problem almost. If he was honest, Naruto was actually willing to forget about the man who caused him to come here. Sure, he wanted revenge for Haku, but if it meant Mizore would be in danger, he would forget all about it. But besides that, Naruto had learned something about Konjyoyaki. He was human, he had emotions, and he cared about people. The man could try to hide that all he wished, but Naruto knew the truth.

That was besides the point, though. The blonde knew hoping never helped. Jashin-sama no longer had any pull in the plains of existence besides his own. Only through his followers could he actually have any semblance of a presence elsewhere. What happened happened, and only through actions could one affect the outcome. With that in mind, Naruto opened the door and entered the classroom.

He sighed as he crossed the threshold and took two steps, then stopped. He blinked and then just stared into the room, his face a blank mask. Pretty soon, the other occupants turned to look at him. A staring match ensued, and pretty soon, all participants were grinning. One of the ones already in the room soon got up and quickly approached the blonde.

"Naruto-kun," called out Mizore excitedly. Naruto reciprocated as he embraced her in a hug, almost giddy with happiness, though managing to keep cool, even as Mizore reached up to place a quick peck on his cheek. That was when the blonde noticed something. Before he left, he and Mizore were almost the same height, him being slightly taller. Now he was definitely a few inches higher than her, almost Tsukune's height, actually.

Speaking of the by, he was smiling at him from a desk near the window, Moka Kurumu, and Yukari all sitting near him. Even Zetsu was there, standing in a corner, a smirk on his face. Looking back towards the front of the room, Naruto saw Nekonome, the newspaper club supervisor. She had an amused smirk on her face, and let the little display go on. Konjyoyaki was missing, but that was something the blonde could easily live with.

Everyone was soon asked to take a seat as the feline-like woman began the same speech as last year about this being a monster school. Naruto sat with his friends, making sure to be next to Mizore. "Looks like the whole gangs back together, eh?" he whispered. But, despite his current good mood, Naruto knew deep down that this year would be filled with more shit than the last.

/

So this is out a bit later than I wanted. What can I say, I was busy playing Fable 3. It's awesome, and I highly recommend it. That aside, I was busy with other pursuits as well. I finally got a job. Yeah, I'm a tutor. Not the most lucrative expenditure, but hey, it pays nine dollars an hour. Nonetheless, this hopefully won't interfere with my stories too much. So, stay tuned, as next chapter, problems quickly arise for Naruto and the gang. This has been another chapter by your fellow author, Acolyte of Truth, totaling 5,846 words!


	18. The Extent of Graditude

Hey everyone, got a new chapter here for ya'. First off, I want to thank Lykaos for being such the speedy beta he is. I would especially like to thank him twice as much, since looking back, I forgot to do that last chapter. On another note, I'm behind schedule. I had expected to at least be up to the doppelganger at this point, but I was obviously way off on my projections. However, the relatively slow pace is deliberate; kind of an expose, I suppose. Oh well, whatever it is, let's move on.

/

Disclaimer: I never intend to presume ownership over that which is not my intellectual property.

/

Chapter 18: The Lengths of Gratitude

As with the year before, nothing much happened on the first day. They were all told that they were to remain disguised, and pretty much left to their own devices after that. Not so surprisingly, Moka, who had just wanted to hang around and catch up more with all of her friends, was dragged of by Yukari for something, leaving Tsukune at the complete mercy of Kurumu.

For the second time that day, it was only due to Naruto that he didn't suffocate, as the blonde made an off-handed comment that aggravated the blue-haired succubus. Kurumu was always on the defensive around Naruto. She had been ever since the Anti-thesis incident the year previous. The girl kept telling herself that the blonde had only done it with the best intentions at heart, that he meant as little harm as possible, that it was to protect them all. And he had redeemed himself by helping to take down Hokuto, but something still unnerved her about him.

Inside, she knew she forgave him, that she honestly knew that he cared for them all, but maybe that was the problem. Maybe it was just that her feelings were delusional, and Naruto really was some sociopathic bastard. After all, he was absent from the final standoff with Hokuto, and, sure, he was swept away, but she didn't believe that it was an underling that did it. She didn't want to be betrayed by someone she thought was a friend, she didn't want him to hurt her other friends, but she didn't want to be ostracized by them for going against Naruto, and possibly being wrong, losing everything. The best way to describe it would be a confusion fueled by anxiety.

In short, Kurumu was restricted to scathing comments masked as playful banter, hoping to get a message across to the blonde. And she could tell he understood the message loud and clear. 'Don't fuck with my friends, or you'll regret it.' and it seemed to end the same; Naruto would just narrow his eyes at her, but when he turned away, Kurumu could see him direct the anger at himself, and regard the outside world with a gentleness unexpected of him. It really played with Kurumu's emotions.

It was a short time later that Yukari came back, Moka no where in sight. Naruto thought that something was off about her, but played it off to the fact that he had had no human interaction besides Konjyoyaki over the last six months. The pink-haired girl had asked for Tsukune to come with her a second, to which the boy agreed to easily, a smile on his face. As the two exited the door, Kurumu narrowed her eyes at the scene.

Naruto paid it little heed and instead turned back to Mizore and Zetsu. "So, seeing as everyone else has gone, you guys want to find something to do?" Naruto was casual about the whole thing. Really, he didn't care if they went somewhere or stayed put, he just wanted to spend time with his friends. When he received two nods, the blonde shifted his eyes to Kurumu. He didn't know why he felt like he had something to prove to her, but he felt that he should at least be sociable and invite her along, especially since she seemed so lonely at that moment. "Hey, Kurumu," he called, gaining her wary attention. "You want to come with us?"

The girl eyed Naruto for a moment, still sitting down, and then slowly shook her head. "No, I'll be fine." Surprisingly, there wasn't any ill emotions directed at Naruto. She then stood up from her desk. "In fact, I'm going to go find Tsukune. I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach." and with that, she walked past the group and vanished out the door. Naruto stared after her and then turned to Mizore.

"She really okay?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, noticing the pensive look on the girl's face.

"I'm not sure. But I have learned that the feelings that she gets are usually correct, regardless, the best thing we can do right now is leave her be, let her deal with whatever problems she has. Besides, I don't think she likes you that much."

"And what gives you that idea?" Naruto questioned with slight sarcasm and a roll of his eyes. He chuckled a bit afterwards and led the group out of the room, leaving it empty.

/

The group of three was simply walking down a dirt path, talking about how there lives had been going. Or, at least, trying to. It was kind of difficult, but not for the reasons one would expect. They each trusted the others fully with their lives and were quite open with each other, even Zetsu, who thought it a bit weird since he was nearly twice their age. However, there were reasons that they kept information from their friends.

Sure, Naruto was open with all the training he did, even if it was boring just talking about it. The information he didn't reveal was what Konjyoyaki had talked to him about personally. It was mainly because he didn't think that he had a right to know anyway. It was because of that that he felt that he shouldn't talk about the man's troubled past.

There was one other thing the blonde neglected to tell his friends. That was his experiences with a car. Why is it that he withheld this information? Well, it was mainly Mizore that he didn't want to tell. You see, Naruto was planing something for the girl and wanted it to be a surprise; something involving his new-found ability to drive. We'll get more into this expenditure much later.

All Mizore would say was that she, too, had been training. She didn't get into specifics, citing that it was rather boring, especially when compared to the six straight months of hell her boyfriend went through. She, at least, had a few periods of relaxation.

What she didn't say, however, was who she had trained with. One person was Kurumu. While the girl wasn't that bad, Mizore had gotten the impression that Kurumu was trying to get her to lose some trust in Naruto. She felt that the blonde knew about the girl's dislike for him, and wasn't quite sure how he would react to that. The other fact omitted was the fact that Gin had trained them. It was fortunate that the boy had decided to kept his hands to himself around her, intimidated by Naruto as he was, but again, she didn't want to chance getting a reaction out of him.

Zetsu's reasoning was a bit different. He was sticking with the story that he had traveled around the world. And it was true. For the most part. The man had seen a few of the sights and customs he had observed, but not his intentions in going there. He had been asked by Konjyoyaki to gather information on where Mr. N may have set up base, since he was to preoccupied himself to search, and Zetsu could do it better anyway. The scarred man had doubts that the man was located in Japan, but still was likely to be a certain proximity to them. Zetsu had spent a month in each of six countries; China, South Korea, Australia, various Russian areas, and even western Canada and the United States, all countries within 6,000 miles and technological resources for N to perfect his work. His observations were far from extensive, and he had turned up no leads, but he was asked to keep the pretenses under wraps.

Everyone felt that their friends were keeping something from them, but didn't call the others on it, not wanting to be hypocritical or draw attention to themselves since the others no doubt felt the same. It was due to this internal distraction that none of them noticed the pair of eye watching them. Well, Zetsu probably did, but he wasn't paying attention to the individual and had dismissed them as a threat.

The figure regarded the group with the eyes of a predator, a certain blonde specifically. There was a palpable hunger to them, and eagerness, but no malice, almost as if they saw the situation as a game. Perhaps they did. Only they knew for sure.

As they slowly saw their target getting away, they surreptitiously moved up with them, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. They told themselves to be patient, that they had all they time in the world. They needed to calculate the moment to best catch the blonde by surprise. Suddenly, eyes widened, nostrils flared. A perfect chance had just presented itself. So, without a further moment of hesitation, the hunter sprung to catch its prey.

/

The attack caught the group by surprise. Even Zetsu's normally impassive yellow eyes widened a noticeable margin as he witnessed a figure pounce onto his blonde friend's back. Naruto was caught the most unaware, however, as he found himself violently pitched forwards as his head was bashed painfully off the ground. His two friends jumped away from him, anticipating a follow-up on themselves, but instead the assailant simply leapt off Naruto's back and waited.

Naruto, the surprise weight now gone, sprung up as fast as he could, worried that his friends may be in danger now that the mysterious attacker had now stopped focusing on him. The blonde spun and prepared to unseal his blade, when he noticed two things. One, his assailant seemed a bit abashed with all the attention on them, and, two, it was a girl.

She wasn't dressed in the normal school uniform; instead, she had opted for a sleeveless black top, a black skirt, and some heeled boots. Her hair was black and stopped just before her shoulders while her bangs just barely covered her eyes. From what Naruto could see, they appeared yellow. For some reason, he thought she looked familiar.

Seeing as nothing was happening, the blonde dropped his guard just a bit, his friends doing the same, as he asked the main question on his mind. "Hey, what the hell?"

The girl just looked down, a blush coming to her face. "I'm sorry, I guess I just got a bit excited. Please forgive me." As she said this, the girl bowed her head down low, further catching the group by surprise.

Mizore, though, narrowed her eyes. There was something about this girl that set her on edge. "Excuse me, but if you don't mind my asking, who are you?"

The black-haired girl looked over to Mizore, and, though it might have been her mind playing tricks on her, she thought she saw some disdain in those yellow eyes. The ice girl blinked, and it was gone. Instead, there was an embarrassed grin on her face as she awkwardly scratched her cheek. "Right, how rude of me. My name is Tenka Hotaru, it's a pleasure to make you acquaintance."

"I see." Truly, Naruto didn't. The whole situation was strange to him. However, he'd be damned if he ever let something like that stand in his way. "I'll ask again; why did you jump me? What's there to be excited about?" Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn't in the mood for playing around.

The girl, Hotaru, once again regarded solely him. She clasped her hands n front of her and looked down, not wanting to meet his eyes. "I wanted to thank you for saving me."

"What?"

"Naruto-san," hearing his name, the blonde turned to Zetsu, who chose this to be the first time he spoke since the girl had shown up, "you do realize what Tenka-san means, don't you?" the man only received a shake of the head, prompting him to explain. "Remember right after our first encounter with Hokuto-san?"

Naruto thought back, idly noticing Hotaru's reaction tat the name. Then, it hit him. He had ordered his clones to the hospital with the survivors. Only one of them actually made it. Last he heard, though, she was still rather critical. The blonde regarded Hotaru with a new perspective now. "I remember."

"That is good," she smiled. She then approached close to him, until the two were almost touching. This caused a wave of cold rage and a bit of possessiveness to run through Mizore, though Zetsu just looked on in intrigue. "Then I hope you don't mind allowing me to show you my gratitude." Hotaru's voice turned husky, and she began to run her hands across the blonde's chest as she said this, causing a shiver to run down Naruto's spine.

He quickly regained his senses, though, and his eyes snapped open as he snatched the girls hands, causing her yellow eyes to widen, especially when she saw the slight scowl on his face. "Don't touch me." It was then that he gently pushed her back. "For one, I'm already in a committed relationship. For another, I'm not the one you should be thanking; that would be Aono Tsukune. Had it been up to me, I probably would have left you there to bleed out."

The girl seemed to think about this. Finally, she shook her head in denial. "That doesn't matter. I remember the way you held me when I was blacking-out on the way to the hospital. I saw the concern in your eyes." Naruto debated on whether or not to tell the girl that it was just a clone,but concluded that it wouldn't make a difference. "I also respect that you are with someone you love," here, Hotaru chose to spare a glance back at Mizore, "but that doesn't mean that I don't love you back. It just means I'll have to prove my affection for you. But for now, I'll give you some space." and with that, the girl walked away, a feeling of dejection surrounding her.

The group of three just looked after her. When she was far enough away, Naruto spoke his thoughts out-loud. "Damn, first day and shit's already getting complicated."

/

"And here I thought Aono-san was the polygamist of your group."

"Shut the fuck up," replied Naruto, growling a bit at the sarcasm. The three had been successful in tracking down Konjyoyaki to get his advice. They had found him walking down the hall, seemingly being casual with Ruby, something that caught everyone by surprise. Konjyoyaki wasn't casual. And why did Ruby seem to be blushing?

In order to fend off the inevitable questions, the crippled man told the witch that he would catch up with her later and pulled the group aside into a nearby, empty classroom. It was there that Naruto told him what had happened with Hotaru, looking for a solution to this problem. As the blonde spoke, he couldn't help but notice the slightly sour look on Mizore's face.

Shoving his hand into his pocket, Konjyoyaki retrieved a new cigarette, tossed his old one, and lit it. He then turned his orange eye onto the blonde. "And what do you want me to do about it, exactly?"

"Well..." Naruto began dumbly, not even quite sure himself they chose to seek out this man, "I was hoping for some advice on the situation. Any pearls of wisdom that you could part with."

it was then that Mizore, uncharacteristically, interrupted. "We want to know how to get her to to leave us, Naruto-kun especially, alone. At the very least to get her to give up her trying to seduce him."

"Again, how the hell am I supposed to help? What makes you think I have any experience in something like this; in matters of love in general?"

"I guess I just thought..."

"Exactly, you thought. You may think you know me, but, in truth, you don't. Don't get ahead of yourself."

Mizore and Naruto looked down, a bit ashamed that they jumped to conclusions and all but demanded a man for help when he claims to know nothing about this. However, both looked up when their companion spoke up. "And what about Toujou-san?"

Konjyoyaki's head snapped to Zetsu, and his eye narrowed just a bit. "That is none of your concern." His voice was grave, telling them not to question it. "Besides, I always chose business before pleasure, you should know this above all else, Uzumaki. Why don't you try Aono-san? He's in pretty much the same situation, and he seems like he's fine. Ask him for advice."

"We tried. One, that would be much more humiliating," Naruto began before being cut off.

"Your just strengthening my point. You could use a little humility." Naruto just ground his teeth.

"Two, we can't seem to find him."

Here, Konjyoyaki's eye narrowed dangerously, and a slight frown marred his face. "Well, then, I can safely say that someone is bullshitting you." He was looking pointedly at Zetsu, which the other two noticed. They turned to him and asked about it.

The man remained as composed as always, starring right back at Konjyoyaki. "I couldn't seem to detect him. He has so little energy, and it's constantly masked by the residual energy of the youkai here." Konjyoyaki's frown turned into a scowl.

"Which should make it all the more easier for you to find him. His signature sticks out because of the fact that he's human, even more so due to the Holy Lock. It purifies his ghoul-self, making it that much easier to locate. Akashia-san is much the same, only her vampire signature makes both unique and powerful, even when masked. You no doubt know this." the man then paused and closed his eye, concentrating. "Yeah, there they are," he said, opening his eye again. "Near the edge of the school grounds. You probably barely need to focus, since you're better at this than me. Hell, you you knew where they were the whole time didn't you?"

Zetsu didn't answer, but he held his ground.

The cripple turned Mizore and Naruto. "You two, go."

"But..." the blonde tried to protest, but he just received a glare.

"Now," he growled. The two shot glances at Zetsu, but he just kept on staring at Konjyoyaki. Wearily, they left. When he could no longer feel them, the man in white began. "You'd do best to remember where your loyalties lie, Zetsu."

"I do," replied the green-haired man. "They only lie to you by proximity, though, as Hidan-san believes in your goal. By default, so do I."

"Then you understand that you shouldn't cross me. You know what I'm capable of, and you know that's not even the full extent of it."

"That may be true, but the same could be said with our positions switched. You may win in a full on fight, but how injured would you be? How much more of a cripple?" Zetsu's voice was scathing, and one could tell that his thinly veiled threat would be backed up with action if provoked.

Konjyoyaki's eye narrowed even further. "For your sake, you'd better hope it doesn't come to that. However, I trust that you will keep your word."

The man didn't answer as he made for the door. As he was passing Konjyoyaki, however, he stopped and said one last thing before exiting. "I will continue to obey you, for the good of your cause. However, the moment you sacrifice Uzumaki-san, the moment you give him up for a scapegoat, the moment you cause him harm, physical, emotional, or mental, for no direct benefit of him, including harming his friends, my friends, I will no longer follow you, Hidan's wishes be damned."

As he made his exit, Konjyoyaki made one last jeer at him, smirking and not even bothering to look his way. "That is fine. You will no longer be needed by then, if my plan works out." And with that, Zetsu left, and Konjyoyaki found himself talking to himself his smirk twisting into a bitter, forlorn grin. "Heh, friends? What a noble ideology. Unfortunately, there is no room for nobility or friends in a shinobi's life."

/

"So, what do we do now?" asked Naruto, as he and Mizore slowly walked around the campus. Both were in a dreary mood, the problems they were having weighing heavily on their minds.

Mizore just shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. We could try to look for Tsukune-san and them, but I'm not sure how successful we'd be. Maybe we could find Gin-sempai, but I don't know how that would help us much." Then, all was silent as the two thought about what to do. Suddenly, "I wonder how Zetsu's doing."

"I'm sure he's fine," the blonde replied, putting a smile on his face. It was clearly fake, though. Truthfully, both were worried by the prospect of what Konjyoyaki may be doing to him. Both were also wondering what the man's outburst was about, as well. "I guess we can't really do anything except hope for the best." Naruto winced as he said that. Why was he hoping, again?

"Really makes us sound useless, huh?" the blonde didn't respond as the two started for the dorms.

/

Mizore and Naruto bid each other a good bye when they got to the girls' dorm. The two, still in their respective funks as they were, really only wanted to sort out their thoughts on their own for a while. Well, really, it was only Naruto who wanted to sort it out by himself, but Mizore didn't object, since she didn't really want to argue, and actually figured a bit of solitude would help her better regain her bearings.

Mizore soon found herself in front of her door. Despite it only being the first day, she was already repeating habits from the previous year, including keeping her key taped to the top of her door sill. Abiding to the pattern, she quickly checked the hall to ensure no one saw where her hiding spot was, reached up, grabbed the key, slid it into the slot, turned it to the right, heard the faint click, removed the key, and placed it back into its place before opening the door and entering her dorm.

As she closed the door behind her, though, she was set immediately on edge. Something was wrong. When she had gotten there earlier that morning, she had dropped her bags off and just left them just inside the dorm. Now they were gone. Eyes narrowing, she crouched down, and cautiously began sneaking around, so as not to alert a possible intruder to her presence if they didn't already know she was there.

After a bit of tip-toeing around, which Mizore thought was absurd, (hell, anyone would; who should have to sneak around in their own home?) she eventually came to her room. The door was closed and the light was on inside.

Steeling herself, Mizore grasped the handle while forming an ice claw on her free hand, so as to fend off any potential attack. Then, taking one final moment to ready herself, she pushed open the door and rushed in. she stopped, though, when she realized no one was there. However, her bags were on the bed, causing the girl to remain suspicious.

She flicked off the light and exited the room, preparing to do one final sweep of the place, even if it was unlikely she missed anything. It was obvious that she had, however, as she turned and noticed a figure lounging on the couch in the living space, causing her to tense up. "Finally found me, huh?" the voice floated through the dark room and reached Mizore's ears, eerily familiar.

The purple-haired girl's eyes narrowed for what must have been the tenth time that day as she regarded the individual. "Tenka-san," she began, making sure to keep her voice calm and steady, giving away nothing and as cold as the ice she controlled, "Why are you here, exactly?"

"Oh, I just want to talk, if it wouldn't inconvenience you, that is." Inconvenience her? The psycho bitch broke into her home! That constituted as inconvenient, didn't it? Regardless, Mizore wanted to prove that she wasn't intimidated, and kept a cool head.

"That is fine," she said, approaching Hotaru's shadowed figure. "Would you like some tea?"

"No, thank you." She then ushered Mizore to the couch, "Come, sit."

"I prefer to stand, if that's all right."

"Fair enough." As the two faced each other, both were thinking of their next move. Their goals were similar; how to best get their point across without provoking the other into attacking and not being the one to attack themselves, retaining the civilized image they had cultivated. But, they also wanted the other to slip up, in this challenge of pride. It was a game; no, a puzzle. A mix between the two. Perhaps chess, though minesweeper would probably be a better analogy.

For a while, the two just chose to stare at the other through the darkness. Neither one wanted to break the silence, but, since she actually had a purpose and a stake in this, Hotaru was the first to crack. A small loss.

"I assume you know what I want to discuss with you."

"I do. This is about Naruto-kun, is it not?"

"It is." There was another silence, this one much more brief. "You love Naruto-kun, do you not?"

It was an unexpected question, but nonetheless, Mizore answered without missing a beat, "Yes, I do."

"Then I hope you can understand why I, too, love him." Hotaru's voice was laced with both pain and admiration, something the yuki onna didn't fail to notice. "For the longest time, I was alone. Throughout the whole first year of the academy, I had no friends, I was an outcast more than anything, and there was no apparent reason to it. I didn't see much point in life. Then, last year, something happened. I joined the student festival committee and met Hokuto-san." here, the girl's voice held a touch of bitter-sweetness to it, but, before Mizore could think about it, it was gone. "He chose me to be his assistant, and I thought that I had finally found a place where I was wanted. The warmness he gave off, the kindness in every little thing he did, I don't know how to explain it. But, just like that, it was all gone, as that same man I thought I loved cut me down, his eyes that used to be so warm, instead cold and mocking. I was ready to die."

There was another pause as Hotaru let the other girl absorb what had been said. Truly, she had never imagined what it must have been like for the girl. Stranger yet, and something that made her sick to think about, both because of how bad the memory was and how similar it was to Hotaru's own situation, she had experienced having her heart broken when she was younger. It wasn't time to reflect though, as the story needed to be continued. "Go on."

"I had lost my way, I had all but given up, but just as my darkest hour seemed ready to consume me whole, a radiant figure seemed to swoop down and rescue me, both from my attacker and myself. He took me so I could get better, and I'll never forget the warmness in his blue eyes, the same as Hokuto-san used to show, but something that he tried to keep hidden, just like his worry. It was just so much more real. He saved my life that day, and gave me purpose. I know that you see the same in him, and I know that you think I'm evil and all trying to get him to love me as well, but I just want you to see it from where I stand." As she finished, she wearily began to walk towards the door, giving Mizore time to think.

And, unfortunately, she could see where the other girl was coming from. Naruto may not have been perfect; he was violent, was part of a shadowy religion no one seemed to ever hear of, wasn't even from their plane of existence, apparently, and, yet, he would die (or, you know, his equivalent of dying, whatever that may be) to protect those he cared for, enjoyed life and spending time with aforementioned loved ones, and, most importantly, loved her. That, in turn, did make him perfect in Mizore's eyes.

And, the sad truth was, that with her pressure to find a husband, in some alternate reality, she could see herself fighting over a man someone else loved, and who may have loved them, if he showed her the kindness and companion ship she so desired like Naruto did, almost like the situation with Yukari, Moka, and Kurumu. She could imagine herself in Hotaru's shoes.

That horrifying thought caused her to shiver a bit, but she caught herself as she heard the door being opened. Just as Hotaru was exiting, Mizore spoke up. "I understand where your coming from. I will say one thing." Both parties turned to the other as Mizore spoke her proposal. "I will let you get close, you can have the chance to befriend Naruto if you so wish it. However, you aren't to make any moves on him, unless he allows you. In short, I'm allowing you the opportunity of earning your keep. There are no second chances, and the moment you break these rules, or the moment he rejects you completely, it's over. There are no second chances."

for a moment, Hotaru stood there I n the door way. Then, she just smiled, the lights from the hallway showing tears welling up as she turned away. "Thank you," she said in a faint whisper, and then left. Back in her dorm, Mizore was wondering just how this would turn out.

/

It was the next day when the Mizore and Naruto met up again. The former decided to not tell the blonde about what had happened the previous night, both to give Hotaru the most natural chance, and because she was still unsure if she had done the right thing. She had basically agreed to allow the girl to try to turn her boyfriend into a polygamist, or, worse, dump her for Hotaru. Of course, Mizore knew that wouldn't happen. Naruto wasn't like that.

They were both still worried about Zetsu, though, as neither one had received any word from or about him. It was quiet unnerving, and weighed heavily on both, especially since classes officially started today. It was a lot to deal with.

Fortunately, that load was lightened a bit, as the man in question finally showed himself to Naruto and Mizore as they neared the school. Excited, they nearly ran up to him, asking what had happened. To their concern, he just brushed the whole thing off, citing that it was nothing to worry about, he just had to think about a few things. When they tried to press him for more information, he just told them to drop it.

Suspicious, but respecting their friend, they complied and continued walking towards the school, meeting up further with Tsukune and his little harem, which he was reluctant to own. They, two, were silent about their misadventures from the day previous, but it was more of an awkward silence. Just as well, since they weren't to apt to talking about Hotaru, even if they were bound to find out.

Speaking of which, Mizore wondered when the girl would make her move. While it was true that she had agreed to give her a fair chance, what would the outcome be? Would the dark-haired girl turn on her, saying that she had allowed her to have a chance with Naruto? Would he accept Hotaru? So many questions, but Mizore knew that she had to have faith in Naruto and push all of these insecurities to the back of her mind.

However, she couldn't seem to do that, especially when the day was passing so monotonously. A lot of the stuff they went through in class was review from the last year, or a miniscule amount of building on what they had last learned. Hell, even Moka's and Kurumu's arguments between classes weren't entertaining enough to keep her mind wandering to the possibilities.

As per usual, the succubus would flaunt her ample breasts while Moka would try to sustain the innocent image. However, she could tell that the pink-haired girl longed for the competition, Zetsu probably could too, and maybe even Naruto, if he was paying attention, but she couldn't stay focused on that.

However, near the end of the day, something occurred that finally seemed to take her mind off of all the negative worries that seemed to encompass her her thoughts. The interruption came in the form of a tiny flier, saying that fourth and fifth period would consist of a survival training. Internally, Mizore could help but grin, especially at seeing the excited look on Naruto's face. This may be just what she needed to take her mind off of all the stressful things currently going on. If only she knew what the coming weeks would bring.

/

And thus, it is finished. I shouldn't have to tell you that this is my last update of the year. Also, the last section did not go through Lykaos, but I thought it was a better place to end. So if the last section lacks the quality of those previous, that's why. On a random note, a few awkward occurrences have recently happened to me. My parents, who are a little older than forty, have started watching Tosh .O, because I lacked the foresight to not leave the t.v. on Comedy Central. If you're familiar with the show, you'll understand why this is awkward. Of course, that's not saying much for, since I've also seen movies like The Hangover, the Harold and Kumar movies, and Knocked Up with them. Still, the sentiment remains the same. Also, don't to forget to vote for my next story in my profile. As incentive, I've both raised the vote count, and added story previews. So vote, damnit!

What is this survival training about? When will Hotaru make her move? What could possible happen next? You can't even imagine. As I final note, I'm hesitant to claim Hotaru as an O.C.. True, in the manga, she had neither a name or personality, but she was still there. So is she more of an expanded canon? Have I created a new categorization for characters? Then let it be said that Tenka Hotaru is the first ever E.C.C.. Of course, I can't fully claim that, either, since I'm not sure if anyone else has done this before. If you have an answer to this question, please contact me, and if you don't know who Hotaru is, she was one of Hokuto's followers. This has been another chapter brought to you by your fellow author, Acolyte of Truth, totaling 6,059 words. Happy National Hangover Day!


	19. Degrees of Seperation

Hey viewers... readers... whatever the fuck you want to call yourselves. So unfortunately, Lykaos coulnd't beta this whole thing, as I sent it to him in parts and, due to time constraints, couldn't wait for the whole thing. However, the first half is good to go, so let's get this show on the road. Also, Lykaos, if you're reading this, sorry I couldn't wait.

/

Disclaimer: What is ownership? Is it simply a figment of the human's own greedy and selfish nature, or an actual concept with a purpose that applies to more things than we- enough with the bullshit. I don't own it.

/

Chapter 19: Degrees of Separation

All is quiet. It is dark in the presumably large room, and cold enough to see one's breath. The only lights came from the dull screens on monitors, and a few tubes located along the walls filled with a glowing green liquid. The forms of the figures inside the tubes are shadowed, distorted, so one could not make out who or what they were.

If one concentrated, they would be able to faintly hear the buzz of electricity powering the monitors, and hear the clicking of fingers on a keyboard. A figure could be seen sitting at a monitor, dressed in a grey cloak. His hood was down, but no facial features could be distinguished from the mouth up due to the sheer darkness of the room. The glare from the screen managed to reflect off of his square-rimmed glasses, though.

Suddenly, a door opened, allowing light to flood into the room through the small portal as a new person walked in. The man quickly covered his eyes and face from the harsh light and barked out, "Mako, close the damn door!"

The person, Mako, hurriedly complied with the order, and the room was once again sealed in darkness. "Sorry," she said as she approached the man. The sound of clinking metal could be heard with each step she took. "I brought you some tea."

"Just set it down there," he indicated to a table beside him that could be barely seen, not stopping his typing or looking away from the screen. Mako did so and bowed down low as she backed away a bit.

As she did, she glanced at the computer screen. "Working on a new formula?" she asked.

"That should be obvious," was his reply. For hours, he had been working on his formula, just staring at the screen, and he found it quite monotonous. He didn't need to be asked stupid questions to further grate away at his nerves. "These tubes won't sustain the subjects for much longer, and the ones who are at our bases are growing too suspicious. It is through sheer luck that they have stuck around. I need to perfect this, or else these valuable subjects will have to be terminated. What a waste."

"I still don't understand," said Mako. "I thought you had perfected the formula with me?"

"So did I. I thought that the error at the school festival was only due to a fault in your delivery system. But after that, I tried it through normal methods and the subjects simply died. I will admit, this is frustrating, however, your presence doesn't help."

Before Mako could leave after hearing that, or even reply, a long low beep began coming from a nearby monitor, causing both her and N to snap their heads in that direction. Soon, the beeping started coming from the other monitors around the room, the screens coming up blue. Then, it came up to the computer N had been working on, and he just stared at it.

Then, he began to shake, a scowl forming on his face and his hands balling into fists. How was he expected to work under these conditions? It was infuriating! Mako, seeing this, began to back up towards the door, but it was too late. With a roar, N stood up and rounded on the girl. In a flash he was standing next to her, his hand going through the girl's chest as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and blood dribbled out of her mouth.

For a second, N just stared, before he ripped his arm from Mako's body. The girl fell to the ground with a wet thump, but he paid her little mind. "Damn, now I have to get this a cleaned. I only have so many of these cloaks." He just stood there in the same spot for a few minutes before looking back down at Mako. "Get up you useless sack. The damage wasn't that bad."

With that, the girl opened her green eyes, a wheezing gasp escaping her throat as a few more flecks of blood escaped and spattered her face. It was obvious that at least one of her lungs was collapsed. Shakily, she reached up towards him, a pathetic look on her face. N just sneered. He walked past her to an intercom on the wall and called for a medic and a few technicians to fix everything up. He also relayed that he would tolerate no more hindrances. Without waiting for them to arrive, he put up his hood and left Mako bleeding on the floor, looking longingly towards him. He needed to find something to preoccupy himself with now until his systems came back up.

/

The scene sets upon the students of Nekonome's class standing outside in front of the bus stop. While a few wondered exactly what this training was for, and why exactly it was so imperative for them to miss class for it, (not that many were complaining about the latter part) others were simply enjoying the beautiful spring weather.

Kurumu and Moka were still arguing, though it had considerably slowed, since they were a couple of those curious about what they were being dragged out for. Meanwhile, Tsukune and Yukari had decided to sneak away from the two and instead join Naruto's little group.

Yukari chose to focus her attention on Zetsu. Her young age only fueled her naturally curious nature, and she wanted to know more about the man's condition and what he was exactly. She even had a little pad of paper that she took notes on. The questions the young witch asked were rapid fire and a bit random to throw in some variety and hopefully confuse her subject, though, being the highly skilled shinobi he is, Zetsu didn't miss a beat and answered the questions almost as fast as they were asked. Of course this had the slightly counter-intuitive effect of Yukari not being able to actually process what was being said. She wouldn't learn until she actually looked at her notes that she had gotten nothing from the man that wasn't contradicting of other answers unless the question had an obvious answer or was one of the random ones, meaning that she didn't actually know what was truth and what was blatant lie.

Tsukune, however, decided to engage in conversation with Mizore and Naruto. After all, they were the closest friends he had that didn't want to get into his pants... or, at least, he hoped they didn't. Actually, Mizore seemed calm enough that he could probably deal with that, he just hoped Naruto didn't. And, sure, he considered Zetsu as a friend, but, one, he was preoccupied with Yukari, two, he was slightly afraid of the man, and, three... well, no, really, that was it...

Back to the matter at hand, Tsukune was currently asking how their relationship was going. With smiles on their faces, they replied that it was going great. Of course, they still hadn't told him about Hotaru, and Mizore still hadn't told Naruto about her deal with the girl, but what they said was true. They loved the other deeply. Though, being forced to think about it, the purple-haired girl was hoping that similar questions wouldn't be asked and that the damn bus would get there soon.

Right on cue, a bus came barreling out of seemingly nowhere, the brakes shrieking in a high-pitched tone as the vehicle seemed to just barely stop it front of the surprised groups of students. Nekonome, though, seemed unfazed as she stood in front of the bus as the door opened and faced her students. "Alright everybody," she began with that nearly constant happy look on her face, "load up. Single file, please, and no pushing."

And, so, everybody lined up and began to shuffle onto the bus. However, as soon as Tsukune got to the front of the line, his face dropped and his previously happy-go-lucky expression was replaced by one of severe nervousness. Surprised by the sudden halt, Naruto, who was behind the boy, peaked around his friend to see why he had stopped. His eyes widened a bit at what he saw.

"Hello, is there a problem?" asked the bus driver. Sure enough, it was the same guy who had dropped the two off when they had first arrived at the school, cigar and glowing eyes and all. He had a small smile on his face at seeing the boys' reactions.

"N-nothing," replied Tsukune in his meek manner. He slowly moved along to sit with one of his friends. Naruto, though, wasn't so easily appeased.

"What the hell? Are you the only bus driver this school employes?"

The man just took a long drag from his cigar before answering. "Of course." It could have just been his imagination, but the blonde swore that the man's grin just grew a bit.

Naruto was about to retort, but the people behind him, tired with waiting, began to push. Shooting a glare behind him at the people and growling a bit, the blonde turned his eyes upon the bus driver one last time and walked back to where Mizore was. Both he and the driver knew that the latter had won that round, and the blonde had no choice but to seek comfort in his ever-reliant girlfriend.

/

The group's destination was about 15 miles away from their staring point. Of course, with the driver they had, the whole journey took less than ten minutes. Everyone pitched forwards in their seats as the demented bus driver slammed on the brakes in front of a clearing, eliciting swears and other such reactions from the passengers, Naruto included.

Of course, Nekonome seemed to not notice it and stood up at the front of the bus as everyone attempted to regain their bearings. "Okay everyone, please unboard the bus in a save manner and gather in the middle of the clearing." And with that, she exited the bus. As the students gathered themselves, they also exited the bus one by one.

Naruto made a point of being the last one off, just so he could give the driver a parting glare. He didn't quite see the point, though, as he just received the predictable smirk. As soon as he got off, he expected to here the doors close behind him and the vehicle to leave. However, instead he heard the engine cut off and footsteps behind him.

Turning, the blonde found himself face-to-face with the driver. A sour look crossed his face as he scowled. "What the hell are you doing? Shouldn't you go back to whatever pit you crawled out from and wait until we need to be picked up?"

The driver clutched his cigar, removed it from his mouth and blew a few smoke rings into the boy's face, causing him to cough and choke on the foul smelling smog. "Two problems with your little theory, kid. One, how would I know when you needed to be picked up? Two, why would I leave if I just had to come back here? I got nothing better to do. Might as well relax." And with that, the driver brushed passed Naruto and went to get something out of the luggage compartment of the bus. Grumbling, Naruto joined the group.

Catching sight of him, Nekonome chose now was the time to continue. "Now that we're all here, we can let the spring Fruit Hunt commence!" Hearing that, Naruto looked up and saw that the teacher was standing in front of a table she had set up with a box on it. He was about to ask what this was all about, but Tsukune beat him to the punch.

"Um, Sensei," the boy said, raising his hand to further be acknowledged. "What's all this about a fruit hunt?"

"Oh, well, it being spring, it means certain fruits are in season," the teacher began, as if it were obvious, "namely in the forests of this mountain. That means animals like birds have migrated to come and eat them. Due to this, carnivorous plants have a chance to prey on the animals. We are here today in search of one of these plants, to be specific, the monster dorian."

Naruto wasn't really a fruit guy. As such, he was about to ask what the hell a dorian was, let alone a monster dorian. His unasked question was answered when the woman reached into the box and she pulled out something that thoroughly shocked Naruto. It looked like a spiked ball, and was a pale green. However, it also had multiple mouths filled with equally spiked teeth and long tongues dangling out of each one.

Naruto found the thing revolting, and he could see that Tsukune was disgusted as well. However, everyone else just seemed to look on in reverence as the teacher pulled out a cleaver and sliced up the alleged 'fruit', their mouths practically watering. Even Mizore was beginning to forget about how crappy she felt as she regarded the delicious thing.

It was then that the blonde caught Zetsu's eye, and he received yet another shock. The man he regarded as the most stoic person he knew, the person who was something not entirely human, yet not monster, had a pained look on his face, his attention fixated on the spectacle in front of him. When Naruto blinked, it was gone though, and the blonde almost could have played it off as a trick of the mind, but he knew what he saw. Something was wrong.

Before he could further process the revelation, their teacher spoke up, saying that they now had a special speaker to explain the risks of hunting the, quote, 'delicious morsels', unquote. From out of nowhere stepped a man in all of his white clad, scarred, crippled, stoic, and aforementioned glory. At that moment, Naruto could have palmed his face. Of course it was Konjyoyaki.

"Amami-san, what is it that you have to tell the students?" asked Nekonome, using Konjyoyaki's alias. The man took the queue to begin explaining that the target they were hunting was extremely dangerous, as it could easily disguise itself and had adapted itself to create tactics to make luring prey in with less difficulty. He also said that as part of it's carnivorous nature, it had no reason not to eat them.

Of course, not many people listened to Konjyoyaki, either so intent on finding a damn fruit that they were already splitting off into small groups and forming attack plans, or wondering just how he had gotten himself so fucked up. Rumors had started almost as soon as the man had started working at the academy, mostly to feed the students' curiosity and gossip quota.

Of course, those curious enough to wonder and make up their own stories were nowhere near correct, even with all of the diversity. Some said that he had gotten caught up in one of those human wars, and had been injured by their automatic and ballistic weaponry. That would at least explain his serious nature and ability to get people to pay attention... most of the time.

Others said that he had gotten in trouble with the yakuza through activities like gambling and had pissed off a loan shark. That or he had dishonored them in some way. Either way, they had taught him a lesson, and had sent the assimilated monsters (which they didn't know were monsters) after him. From there the story cuts to a traditional mob torture and mutilation scene. The students didn't idle too much on that theory.

And then there was the rumor that probably glorified the man the most. A few of the students had gotten it into their heads that the man had made the mistake of getting into a fight with a vampire. While coming out of a serious mauling like a few of the students thought Konjyoyaki had and surviving was an impressive feat itself, a few even claimed that the man had killed the vampire, as no self-respecting s-rank monster would leave someone alive if they hated them enough to rip off their arm and gouge out their eye.

But, as previously stated, not one of the gossip mongers knew for sure. However, they were going to make sure that would change today. As the man finished, he regarded all of the students and asked, quite plainly, "Any questions?" not expecting to see any raised hands. However, one hesitant boy did raise his hand, and was called upon.

"Uh, yeah, sorry for being blunt, but how exactly did you get so injured?" As soon as the words left his mouth, all eyes were on him, but the boy just looked forward, keeping his eyes on Konjyoyaki. The cripple seemed to remain still for the longest time, almost as if he were stone. Then, a cruel, predatory grin split his face.

Before most students could register what the hell was going on, Konjyoyaki just seemed to materialize in front of the poor student and stumbled back into his friends, a shocked look on his face. It was only due to his recent training that Naruto was able to track his movements at all. Konjyoyaki leaned into the student's ear, and said, loud enough for everyone to hear, and quite simply, "I didn't mind my own business and intruded on a matter that didn't exactly concern me." He looked pointedly at Naruto, who thought he sounded glad, but no one noticed any of this. The cripple then backed away and said to everyone, in a much louder voice, "Okay, into the woods with the lot of you."

And the students obeyed, receiving no real answer to the question that one brave and possible foolish student asked. Instead, they were left to speculate on what exactly he meant.

/

Somehow, Moka and Kurumu had gotten it into their heads that this would be the perfect time for a competition. The blue-haired girl decided that, despite the dangers, the two would race to be the first to capture a monster dorian would win the affection of Tsukune. The boy in question had no say in this, obviously.

The strange thing, to Naruto, at least, was that Yukari seemed to want no part in the competition. It seemed that she actually was as smart as she claimed, as the blonde could hear her muttering something about dangers of the things, but not remembering the specifics. That mumbling quickly changed route and soon focused on Zetsu. Apparently, the young witch was still curious about the man.

And that reminded Naruto about the look he had seen in the man's eyes earlier. He knew probably wasn't the best time to pry, that he should respect his friend's privacy regardless. His curiosity was piqued, though, and he thought that he might forget if he didn't get an answer soon. So, thinking about this carefully, the blonde fell back a few steps, his friend noticing when he continued on past him, who was at the back of the group.

Catching on, Zetsu, too, fell back until they were a few meters behind the group, where they could carry on a quiet conversation, hopefully without being overheard. Of course, both Mizore and Yukari noticed without letting on, and strained to hear what the two were talking about.

"Hey, what was that back there?" the blonde asked in a hushed whisper. Moka, Kurumu, and Tsukune still had no idea what was going on. "The presentation with the dorian, I saw that look in your eye. What was with that?"

Surprised, the man's eyes widened a bit. Was he that obvious that Naruto had noticed? While it was true that he saw the blonde as a friend, he knew that the boy wasn't the most perceptive. In fact, if he was honest, the boy had multiple faults that should be shameful to any shinobi. But the sheer fact that he had allowed any emotion to show through so strongly that Naruto had seen it had caught him off guard.

"You noticed that, did you?" the question itself was useless as the answer had already been given, but it gave Zetsu a few more seconds to collect his thoughts without seeming like he was actually surprised. "Truthfully, yes, seeing that was a bit painful to watch, and the reason why lies with my true form." Yukari heard this, and immediately began committing what Zetsu said next to memory. "As a subsequent result, I have a connection to all plant live in general, including most fungi, however, that connection is strongest with carnivorous plants and always has been. Apparently, that inherent ability followed us here. Now, don't get me wrong, I am capable of eating fruits and vegetables, and can actually better process more plants than you can and receive more nutrients, and I am even immune to plant-based poisons, but to me, seeing a plant brutalized would be like a normal person witnessing a small, defenseless animal."

Naruto supposed that he understood that. Sure, he didn't exactly understand a person's affection for small animals, or their sympathy if that same animal couldn't defend itself, but he could relate to seeing something they cared for or had a connection to denied from them. "I see."

The two eavesdroppers also understood what the man was talking about. And Yukari couldn't be more excited. She was actually learning something about the man she saw as such an enigma. True, she was learning this behind his back, and she did feel bad about that, but she was just too curious. She now knew that Zetsu was some kind of plant monster. Now she just wanted to know what he looked like. As for Mizore, she was only learning what her boyfriend was.

"So, what you're saying is that you can talk to plants? If that's the case, why don't you get one of those dorian things to show up and we can get out of this damn forest?" asked Naruto, folding his hands behind his head as he relaxed a bit.

Zetsu just shook his head. "That's not what I said. I can't talk to plants directly, nor can I control them as you're implying. At most, I may be able to coerce a plant into growing a bit, depending on its species, maybe manipulate its root systems a bit if it's compliant enough to create a distraction. All of this is variable on the plant in question, its exact genetic make-up. Most of the times it's through sheer luck that a plant obeys me, but that's all good and well since that's more of a tertiary ability, more for amusement than anything."

"So if that isn't even one of your main abilities, what are?" asked Naruto, genuinely interested. The other two strained their ears a bit more, also wanting to know. Again, perhaps this wasn't the most honest of ways of gaining information, but the two would get over it.

The green-haired man, despite himself, grinned just a bit. "Sorry, but maybe you'll see first-hand a bit later. Until then, I prefer to keep as possible under wraps. Hopefully, you understand." All those listening, Yukari especially, were disappointed, but they didn't show it. Instead, Naruto just shrugged his shoulders, then quickened his pace so he was once again next to Mizore.

/

Back near the starting point, a few meters into the woods, are where the faculty members were found. They were all seated cross-legged near a small lake, all holding fishing poles. Nekonome's was probably the most advanced. She had it made out of a light-weight, reinforced material, Teflon fishing line, and easy-glide crank, and had fitted a special bait on her specialized hook. To an onlooker, it would appear that she was only a few minutes away from just jumping into the lake and catching a fish by hand, if they judged her for her giddy, yet impatient face and twitching.

The two men paid little heed to her, though. They were doing this more to relax. The bus driver had relatively standard equipment; average pole, average fishing wire, average worm on the end of an average hook. Then, there was Konjyoyaki. Taking a puff of his cigar, the bus driver looked towards the cripple, not paying much attention to his pole. "You actually think you'll catch something with that, eh?"

There was a reason for this question, and it all had to do with what Konjyoyaki was using. What he had done was taken a piece of driftwood he had found on the shore, tied a piece of vine that he had deemed suitable enough to it, and the attached a bent paperclip to that before casting, not even bothering to use any bait.

The man glanced at the bus driver from the corner of his eye. "There's more to fishing than fancy equipment and bait."

"Well, of course there is, but there's a limit. You can't honestly..." the man didn't get to finish, as at that moment, Konjyoyaki's head snapped towards the lake, and he yanked his arm back. Out of the water's depths came a large fish, probably four feet in length, hooked onto the cripple's paperclip hook. The force of the pull caused the fish to land on shore a few feet behind the group.

Konjyoyaki remained stoic as he calmly got up and walked to the flailing fish, Nekonome looking on with wide eyes filled with both shock and hunger. This changed to excitement, though, when she then found the fish in her lap after Konjyoyaki tossed it to her. She gave a cheer before beginning to feast on the fish. Not even waiting for it to die.

Meanwhile, the bus driver kept his usual grin on his face, which was clearly fake now. The only way to save face was to remain motionless and appear neutral. He couldn't even ask how the bastard had pulled that off. Before anyone could do anything else, a group of shrill screams rang out from the forest some ways away. The adults all looked towards the source, but, other than that, did nothing to even show that they heard the sound.

"So, you guys are just going to let those kids possibly die?" asked the bus driver after a while, turning his attention back to fishing. He wasn't going to allow himself to be shown up by Konjyoyaki, just like he wasn't going to show that he was bothered about being shown up. Nekonome's face turned a bit solemn, but she kept eating and let her colleague explain.

"Why would we help?" asked the cripple. "I explained the dangers before hand, and that was giving them an unfair advantage. This is survival training, and it's called that for a reason. Their goal is to survive, and they don't deserve to if they're stupid. It's actually quite simple."

"True as that may be, don't you think your little apprentice and his friends have an unfair advantage?"

"First off, I don't have an apprentice," replied the man with a little venom in his voice. He wasn't going to take any students, let alone an apprentice, ever again. After all, as far as he knew, his students were dead, and that was one thought that actually deeply affected him. "Secondly, don't you have an invested interest in that human?" the silence was all the answer he needed. "Finally, you may be right; they may have an unfair advantage. Then again, this might just be the hardest on them all." And with that, Konjyoyaki sat back down and cast his line again.

/

Back with Naruto and the gang, not much had changed. The vampire and succubus were still arguing while the naïve human still tried to pacify them with no success. The witch kept sending sly glances at the plant man, who kept up a stoic appearance as if the earlier conversation had never happened. The Jashinist was walking next to his girlfriend, though he was also grinding his teeth from the antics of the girls in front of him. Did they not know how to shut up? And, despite being closer to the two and much more level-headed than the blonde, the yuki-onna was also finding herself becoming annoyed. At first, it was slightly amusing, now it was just beaten to death. On the up side, she had forgotten about the situation with Hotaru, though her current situation wasn't much better.

"Come on guys, we need to work together," Tsukune pleaded, exasperated. "I mean, this forest is huge. How are we supposed to find..." The boy didn't get to finish his sentence. He didn't need to. At that moment, a monster dorian appeared behind him, crawling using its many tongues.

For a while, everyone just stared at the thing writhe around, both surprised by the fact that they had actually found one, and wondering what to do next. However, it wasn't long before Moka, remembering the contest, rushed forwards and snatched the thing, raising it above her head and cheering. "Yeah, I won!"

"No way!" Kurumu shouted, obviously perturbed by the outcome of their contest. Why hadn't she reacted sooner? Still, it wasn't like this would keep her away from Tsukune. In her mind, it was only because she knew that, if their positions were switched, Moka would do the exact same thing.

However, before the girls could really start arguing, Naruto noticed something, causing his eyes to narrow. The tongues on the spiked fruit were moving lower and lower, closer towards Moka. The others noticed it too, and so did Moka as she felt something tighten around her arm and slither near her chest.

"Moka-san, drop that thing!" yelled Tsukune, trying to help out his friend, maybe scare the fruit with his voice. It didn't work as the tongues shot down further into the girl's uniform and began molesting her while bounding her arms to her sides. She shrieked from the sensation.

Quick as a flash, Naruto unsealed his blade and raced forwards, aiming to sever the tongues. He would have just threw the blade and controlled it by the rope like he had practiced, except his control wasn't spot on yet, and he was likely to miss and hit Moka by mistake. In any event, the fruit sprang away just before Naruto swung his sword. "Damn," he swore ans Moka collapsed, weak from the sensations her body had just gone through.

"Hey, get back here!" shouted Kurumu as she noticed the thing bouncing off, preparing to chase after it. She was stopped, though, by an ice kunai whizzing past her head.

"Idiot," Mizore said, walking up along side the blue-haired girl. "That things supposedly dangerous. What if something happened to you and we weren't there to help you?" Mizore didn't get to finish chastising her friend, though, as she felt as if something was crawling up her leg. Her eyes widened in shock and fear, thinking that the same thing that had happened to Moka was about to happen to her. Not if she had anything to say about it! Only Naruto would ever be able to touch her like that!

She spun around, expecting to see one of those grotesque tongues, except all she saw appeared to be a small vine, unmoving and completely normal for all pretense. Her eyes narrowed at that, and she turned back around, preparing to continue scolding Kurumu, only to see the girl already a ways off, dragging Tsukune behind her.

Grumbling to herself, she turned back to the rest of her friends, watching as Moka sat up and look on after Kurumu. Yukari also stared off, with a pensive look on her face. She was worried about something. Then, there was Naruto, who was just looking around the whole area in general. Then, he turned to her, his eyes narrowed, and voiced his question to the whole group, catching the interest of the other two. "Hey, where'd Zetsu go?"

/

It was as Tsukune was being dragged behind Kurumu after the dorian that the boy couldn't help but think that they were being led along. Of course, it was a preposterous idea, after all, it was a piece of fruit. A piece of carnivorous, monster fruit, yes, but fruit nonetheless. Still, that reassurance didn't quell the pit in Tsukune's stomach that was growing larger by the minute. He really wished his other friends were there.

Then there was the fact that it felt like he was being watched. It was a feeling he knew by instinct now, something he felt almost constantly ever since he started going to the academy. The feeling that everyone wanted to rend you limb from limb, or rip out your still beating heart and show it to you before shoving it down your throat. Feelings like that which could be conveyed through the glares pointed at your back.

He was feeling something akin to that now, except he got the disturbing feeling that person or thing wanted to eat him, alive and piece by piece if at all possible. The thought sent a shiver down his spine. Of course, it was always a possibility that he was just paranoid. That speech the creepy science teacher gave kind of set him on edge.

Tsukune shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. It appeared that they had followed the dorian to a clearing. He and Kurumu sat just outside the clearing, observing the fruit as it remained where it was, seemingly waiting for them. That just set the boy off even more. He knew something was wrong. Thus, he turned to Kurumu, and said, nervously, "Hey, maybe we should wait for the others."

"But... why?" asked the girl, curiosity and a bit of dejection in her eyes. Crap, now Tsukune was starting to feel like a dick. For no good reason, too! "I mean, it's right there! We can easily catch it!"

"Yeah, but I just feel like something isn't right. I mean, it's almost like it's waiting there for us! How in the hell is that normal?" The boy was becoming exasperated now. Why couldn't Kurumu see just how abnormal this was? at least, he thought it was abnormal. He didn't exactly now how monster fruit behaved.

"Well, maybe that's just a sign. Maybe it's fate showing we're meant to be together!" Determination burned in both the blue-haired girl's eyes and voice. However, it was then that her twisted logic led to another conclusion, one that left tears welling in her eyes and despair in her heart. "Unless... Tsukune-kun, don't you want to eat the dorian with me?"

"No, not really!" Tsukune replied. A large sweat-drop formed on the back of his head. That didn't come out exactly as he had planned. He really didn't want to reject Kurumu flat-out, he just didn't want to eat that damn thing! What sane person would?

It seemed as if the succubus hadn't heard him, though, as she swooped forwards and scooped up the spiked fruit. "You really don't understand, do you?" the girl began, a bit solemn, catching Tsukune by surprise. "Ever since the academy started back up, I've felt as if we've been slowly drifting apart. That's why I want this to be just between us. I wanted this to be special."

Neither party seemed to be aware of the dorian's tongues steadily wrapping around Kurumu's body, or the shadowy presence that appeared behind her. That is, until they made themselves known. "How... insolent. You probably should have listened to your friend and waited for your friends. That thing isn't safe. And, while I doubt you would have survived if they were here, you would have at least live longer."

With that, both students spun around towards the source of the voice, just as the ground began to shake and crack. Kurumu screamed in fear.

/

"AHHHHHHHHH!" The remainder of the group heard this just as Yukari finished explaining the true nature of a monster dorian. The blood curdling scream sent shivers down their spines and waves of worry through their souls.

"Shit!" Naruto yelled. He then turned back to everyone else. "I'm going on ahead!" he said, not even bothering to hear the protests as the blonde tapped into his new found speed, holding his blade down low at his side. He was going to be prepared for anything, and wasn't about to let anything happen to his friends.

Of course, how could he ever be prepared for what he saw when he entered that clearing? It was giant Venus-flytrap thing standing on a dozen thick vines or roots or whatever. It had tendrils neat the upper portion of its body,in which it had grasped Tsukune and Kurumu, both who looked scarred for their lives. Of course, that's not what shock Naruto.

What caught Naruto off guard was the fact that Zetsu was standing right beside the overgrown weed, his disguise dropped and a smirk on his face. His yellow eyes were dead to the world, though. "Z-Zetsu? What's going on? Why aren't you helping?"

Zetsu just chuckled. "Sorry, but the one you call Zetsu isn't here right now. I have assumed control." The large plant seemed to straighten up at that, its deadly maw set in a nearly mocking grin. For the moment, Naruto was shocked and confused. How was that possible? When did this happen. Kyuubi provided the answer.

_**'Think back. Zetsu said that he had a communion with plants. He also said that depending on its will, he could prompt them to take a certain action. Along with that, there was an implication that the ability was imperfect and risky. Is it not entirely possible that he could be taken advantage of by a plant with an extremely strong will should he be caught by surprise, much like what appears to have happened now?'**_

"Shit," the blonde growled out, taking a stance, preparing to defend himself. "How could you let this happen to you?"

"Don't blame him. His will was exceptionally strong. I was just stronger. I must say though, this body has an amazing correspondence to be. Perhaps that's the only reason I was able to control him in the first place."

A deep scowl formed on Naruto's face. How dare this thing mock him with the body of his friend? He would make it pay dearly. And so, without anymore meaningless banter, Naruto rushed forwards and engaged the possessed man.

It was clear from the start that Naruto had Zetsu bested in strength and speed. However, the plant-man was extremely agile, something that seemed nigh impossible for a being of his stature. He also had control. Try as he might, Naruto could not seem to touch the man, whereas blows seemed to be raining down upon him. While they definitely jolted him, that was all they did, and the blonde quickly recovered.

It wasn't long before Naruto contemplated using Kyuubi's chakra. However, there within lied a problem. He didn't know how that would affect Zetsu in his current state. He didn't want to kill his friend, after all, just find a way to free him from the dorian's influence. Also, the dorian itself still had a hold on Tsukune and Kurumu. If he did anything startling, the plant may just decide to kill them. He couldn't allow that.

So, the boy was in a bit of a conundrum. And, it was at this time a larger problem arose, as presented by Zetsu. "Oh, it looks like we have company." At first, Naruto fixed the man with a confused gaze. Company? Then, slow, horrid realization dawned upon him, as he quickly spun around. Sure enough, Mizore, Moka, and Yukari had just arrived in the clearing.

All three girls stopped as the scene became clear to them; the monster dorian, Tsukune's and Kurumu's position, and, most prevalently, Zetsu's true form and the fact that he wasn't on their side. This last fact became clear as he used Naruto's distraction and landed a kick straight into the small of his back. The kick had enough force to cause Naruto to release his sword from the shock and send him face first into a tree.

Everyone screamed out to him, and the dorian exploited this, entrapping the remaining three girls as they worried about the blonde. This just enraged Naruto as he saw that now all of his friends were captured by the plant. It laughed through Zetsu. "What will you do now? I hold all of the cards, and at any moment, I could kill any one of your friends. In fact, I'm getting hungry. The question is, who do I eat first?"

At hearing that, something in Naruto snapped. His gaze became cold, as he slowly stood and turned to face everyone. They all just watch, realizing something was wrong, and began to worry as the blonde simply sealed his wakizashi and crouched down low, almost as if readying to rush Zetsu. The man smirked. Everyone was wondering what he was going to do.

They were answered as he simply rushed forwards in a fool-hardy attempt to take down Zetsu. His smirk grew wider as he simply strafed to the side, assuming that the blonde would come back around for another sweep. His eyes widened when he realized that he wasn't the target, and by then, it was too late to do anything.

Continuing on, Naruto jumped up, facing the dorian at roughly face level. He aimed a kick at the thing, but was instead met by an open mouth. The group simply watched in abject horror as the blonde disappeared down the creature's gullet. "Naruto-kun!" Mizore yelled out to him, worried. It was instinctual. In her mind, she accepted that her boyfriend was immortal, but she could still only imagine what might happen to him.

Meanwhile, Zetsu just laughed. "What a fool. What did he hope to accompli-**AAAAGGHHHH**!" Zetsu yelled out, shocking everyone. They watched, before they began to be shaken around by the dorian. "W-what's going on?" screamed Tsukune. He received no answer

They saw Zetsu collapse before they were violently tossed in separate directions. One by one, they slowly rose, and saw a bulge in the plant as it roared out in pain. It was effectively cut off when a large hole was blown form in, sending blood and even a few more of the smaller, bait dorians all over the clearing.

The large creature wobbled a bit before falling over, Naruto emerging from the hole he had made, coated in a flaming red chakra. "Fucker," Naruto murmured to himself as he approached Zetsu. He held him up by his collar, Kyuubi's chakra dissipating as he shook the man awake, his face grave. Blearily, two yellow eyes opened.

"What happened?" asked Zetsu in pain, holding his head, almost as if he had a hangover. With that, Naruto just sighed and smiled.

/

after learning of what had transpired, Zetsu offered the group his most heart-felt apologies. However, much to his surprise, the group seemed to understand, and told him not to worry about it. Surprising still, Yukari still seemed to want to know about him. Momentarily taken aback, Zetsu hid a small appreciative smile, and continued humoring the young girl's curiosity.

As the group continued back to base, each person carrying at least two dorians, Naruto decided to chastise Kurumu and Moka. "That was all your fault you know."

"Excuse me?" asked Kurumu, surprised and slightly angered. She understood how he may have gotten that conclusion, but that didn't mean she liked it waved around in her face or flaunted for the world to see. Moka shared a similar sentiment, but was better able to show some humility.

"The way I see it, if you two weren't constantly bickering throughout this whole trip, someone may have noticed a problem with Zetsu, and if you hadn't dragged Tsukune away from us and we had all stayed together, you all may not have all been trapped, and I wouldn't have had to be swallowed by that damn weed."

"Oh, and this isn't at all his fault," she asked, pointing to Zetsu. Naruto scoffed.

"No, and you know it's not. Otherwise, you wouldn't have accepted his apology. Besides, it's obvious that he had no control." Naruto left it at that, grinning to himself as he noticed the two girls quietly talking amongst each other.

Within a few minutes, everyone was back at camp, and the dorians being cut up and passed out. Naruto had to admit, it wasn't that bad, and was a bit surprised to see even Zetsu partaking in the fruit. When asked about it, the man simply replied that the damn plant had crossed him, and the least it could do was compensate him with sustenance.

In fact, everyone but Tsukune seemed to be enjoying the fruit. The boy just couldn't stomach the fact that it reeked of blood, one of the traits Naruto found endearing. Eventually, though, Tsukune gave in to peer pressure and tried a bite. He had to be carted back to school for food poisoning.

/

"AHHHHHH!" screamed Tsukune as he ran through the school yard in the early morning the next day. One would wonder what he was yelling about, before quickly being answered, seeing the large animal running closely behind him. "It's gonna eat me!"

It was after being cured for food poisoning that Tsukune had foolishly asked a certain blonde for some training. He didn't want to be trapped in the same situation as the previous day where he couldn't even defend himself, let alone his friends. He also didn't want to use his ghoul powers, as they would surely kill him.

It was thus that the shinobi had managed to release the school's head chef's favorite pet, a ravenous boar-hedgehog-bull hybrid called a togezo. He had then sent it after his friend, who was just coming out of his dorm and preparing to meet up with his friends, claiming that it would, 'help with his evasiveness'.

And, of course, he had to watch over the spectacle in order to ensure the boy's 'safety'. "Come on! Where's your stamina?" Naruto yelled as he saw the animal get ever closer as he tailed them. While it was true that he was enjoying himself, Naruto also wanted to see Tsukune succeed. Of course, even if he didn't, seeing him so scared was just as good. "If you don't hurry he's gonna catch you!"

But, it was too late. As Naruto yelled that out, the togezo leaped and attached itself to Tsukune's head, gnawing away. The was a spurt of blood as the boy's pitiful screams increased. Naruto didn't see this as the end, though, especially since he knew the animal wouldn't kill or even severely injure the boy.

"Come on, yank it off! Show that thing who's boss!" As Naruto yelled and Tsukune frantically attempted to obey his instructions without any results, neither noticed the presence of a girl until she was only a few feet from the struggling boy.

"Hey, stand still." Both boys turned to the source of the noise, though Tsukune didn't have much time to think, since the next moment a bag was swung at his head, hitting the togezo and sending it flying at least fifty yards.

Tsukune just stood there, staring blankly into space, only partially taking into account the person who had saved him or the fact that blood was still flowing freely down his face. Naruto, though, was much quicker too inspect the girl as he slowly walked over. She had bright orange hair that was done into two pig-tails at the sides of her head. She had also seemed to take liberty with modifying her school uniform, having a red top that complemented the shade of her hair with short sleeves. She was also wearing knee-high socks.

"That was dangerous," the blonde heard her say to Tsukune as she brushed a bit of her hair behind her ear. "You okay?" As the girl asked that, a small orange bat landed on her shoulder, something that the blonde raised an eyebrow to. Regardless, he soon made himself known.

"That's quite an arm you got there," Naruto called out casually, catching both her and Tsukune's attention. His hands were shoved into his pockets as he got ever closer, noticing that the girl had bright green eyes, almost like Moka's and that she was much smaller than he initially thought. "If only the dumbass here could muster up that kind of strength."

"Come on, Naruto-san, that's not very nice.," Tsukune said, a whining tone in his voice. "Besides, do you think you can warn me next time you send some animal after me, or at least help get it off me?"

"Don't question my methods. And where would the fun in that be, anyway?"

Tsukune sweat-dropped at his friend's deadpan explanation before turning back to his confused savior. "Sorry about that," he said with an awkward chuckle, "and thanks for the help. What's your name?"

The girl turned all of her attention to Tsukune. "Oh, right, my name is..." she slowly cut off, causing both boys to look on speculatively. Slowly, she leaned in closer to the brunette, sniffing him a bit, especially where blood was still leaking from him. "This smell... your blood..." here, Tsukune's stomach dropped, a dreadful feeling filling him. This was becoming eerily familiar. "I bet you taste delicious."

Luckily, it wasn't as bad as he initially thought, as the girl simply leaned up and began licking some blood off of his cheek. Tsukune was as ridged as a pole as this was happening, staring ahead at Naruto, who met his eyes before going back to watching the girl with a bit of curiosity.

"I knew it! Your blood's delicious!" she shouted as she backed up a bit. It looked like the girl was about to go back for more, before a noise sounded in the distance, causing her to stop. "Crap, the entrance ceremony is starting!" and with that, she was rushing off in the other direction, leaving the two looking on in wonder. "Well that was... different," said Naruto, before he grabbed Tsukune and they began to walk away, a bit surprised by the new first year student.

/

The two met up with their friends soon after, however, as they approached the group, Naruto abruptly stopped, prompting Tsukune to do the same. The latter quickly did a survey to determine why he had stopped, and quickly saw why. There was someone new there.

Undeterred, and not really seeing what the blonde's problem was, Tsukune approached, hand outstretched in a sign of peace. "Hello, who are you?" he asked as he shook the girl's hand.

She smiled back at the boy. "My name's Tenka Hotaru. And we've met before, Aono-san."

At hearing that, Tsukune's handshake went limp, and he looked on at the black-haired girl in shock. They'd met before? Then again, how could she know his name if they hadn't? Sure, his friends could have told her his name, but why? And she did look familiar.

Then, it all came back to him, and Tsukune put on his biggest smile. "Oh, you were on the council with me and Naruto-san! I thought you... oh, uh..." Tsukune cut himself off awkwardly. After all, how could he just say he thought she had died right to her face? Hotaru giggled at his antics.

"Don't worry about it. Truthfully, I'm surprised I'm alive myself."

As this was going on, Naruto slowly made his way to Mizore and Zetsu, his eyes narrowed. "What's she doing here?" he asked in a harsh whisper, trying to make sure no one other then them heard. For the most part, Mizore was able to keep her composure so he didn't know it was her idea.

"We don't know," said Zetsu, "but the others appear to have taken a liking to her. We still haven't told them what happened when we first met." Naruto growled a bit to himself at that. Looks like they didn't really have a say on if she joined the group of not.

Just as he was pondering on this, Hotaru broke away from the others and came closer to them. "What do you want?" asked Naruto, not bothering to veil his contempt.

Hotaru bowed her head a bit in shame. "I actually wanted to apologize for what I did. I understand how inappropriate that was, and that you lover her," she said , indicating to Mizore. "Really, all I want now is to be your friend. Will you at least give me that opportunity?"

Naruto was actually slightly taken aback. Of all the things, this was the last thing he had expected. Hesitantly, he looked over to his friends, Zetsu, because Naruto suspected that he could detect lies, and Mizore, to see if she was even okay with this. They both gave him nods of approval.

That settled, he turned back to Hotaru, sighing a bit. "We're willing to give you a chance. But, if you overstep your boundaries, or do something that is clearly not okay, you can forget about our friendship." despite the harshness with which Naruto spoke, Hotaru smiled.

"Thank you." And it was then that a pained gasp rang out amongst the group. Turning, they saw Moka feeding off of Tsukune, his mouth still open from the shock of it. "Uh, does that happen often?"

"At least three times a day. You'd think that he'd be used to it by now." Naruto shrugged. That was when Mizore turned to him.

"By the way, why were you so late?"

"Oh, yeah, I was training Tsukune. Sent a togezo after him and everything."

"Wait, you sent a togezo after him? are you trying to kill him?" shouted Kurumu, rounding on the blonde who just held up his hands defensively.

"Hey, I was gonna step in before anything bad happened, but some first year beat me to the punch."

"A first year?" asked Yukari curiously. It was now that Moka also got curious and turned to listen to the conversation, even if she could just ask Tsukune about it later.

"Yeah, beat the togezo away and everything, sent it flying. I think she was a vampire, too, because then she licked the blood on his face and said how delicious it was."

"Great, another blood-sucker," Kurumu said jokingly, rolling her eyes. "So, what happened next?"

"She just ran off, saying she was late for her entrance ceremony. The weirdest thing, though. She had a small pat perched on her shoulder."

It was at that point that Moka fully turned from Tsukune and approached Naruto. "This girl, can you describe her?"

The blonde was slightly surprised by the seriousness in the girl's voice, but continued on. "Yeah, let's see. Orange hair, done in two pig-tails. Red shirt. Already told you about the bat. That was orange, too. Oh, yeah, and she had green eyes, a lot like yours, actually." Moka then shocked everyone by simply turning around and running, a deadly serious look on her face.

"Hey, Moka-san!" Tsukune called out to her, but it was all for naught. Seeing this, he ran after her.

"So..." Hotaru began, braking the silence, "what about this? Is this normal?"

"No," was Zetsu's frank response.

"Oh."

/

"Moka-san, wait up!" called out Tsukune as he rushed to catch up with the pink-haired girl. She kept on walking, but the boy was soon by her side, trying to determine what was going on with the girl. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"This isn't good," was all she said as she carried on, confusing the boy even more. However, before he could question her, Moka reiterated what was wrong, if only a little. "I recently sent home some luggage," the girl seemed set to make it clear to Tsukune just how bad it was, though. "Tsukune, we can't let her get involved with our friends anymore."

Now the boy knew something was wrong. Moka was always so polite, yet she hadn't used a suffix when she addressed him. It may have been a small thing, but, still, it just concerned him even more. "What is wrong exactly, Moka-san? You need to tell me."

She only seemed to be partially listening. "That girl is terrible. Once she get's something in her head, she won't stop until she accomplishes it. She just doesn't seem to know when to stop. It's like she's obsessed."

"Wait, I still don't see how you know that girl," Tsukune continually prodded, but it seemed that Moka would get to the point when she damn well wanted to. The duo continued until they happened upon their classroom, the pink-haired girl continuing as she all but slammed open the door, not noticing that the others had finally seemed to catch up.

"Hey, what's going on?" Naruto called out, being flanked closely by Mizore and Hotaru with the others a bit further behind. Tsukune turned to look at him, his eyes saying he didn't know either, but Moka still seemed oblivious to everything else around her.

"I know... she's going for my life." It was then that she finally looked into the classroom, knowing that her worst fear had come true. Sure enough, as Naruto came up, he saw that inside the room, just waiting for them, apparently, was the same girl he and Tsukune had met earlier.

The red-head just seemed to smile a bit. "Found you," she said, slowly rising from her spot at a desk.

For the most part, Moka seemed exasperated, even slightly ill. "Kokoa." The words rolled off of her tongue like waves of trepidation, causing the younger's smile to grow a bit. And it was then that the others finally caught up.

"Huh, is that the girl you were talking about earlier?" asked Yukari, spying Kokoa.

"Wow, she's cute," was the off-handed statement that came from Kurumu. No one visibly made any motion that they had heard either of them.

"Oh, wow," began the red-head, the familiar bat fluttering next to her as she slowly approached, a look of mock surprise on her face. "Those two, from this morning. It's the sadistic one and the boy with delicious blood. And those other people..." here, she took some time to survey the other, focusing pointedly on Zetsu, it seemed. "They sure are weird. Still, this is so unexpected."

She approached just a little closer, before Moka stepped right in front of her, arms spread in a defensive gesture. "That's far enough," she said, her voice as cold as ice and as sharp as steel. The group was just further shocked by how uncharacteristic it was of her. "You will not harm these people. They are my friends."

Even Kokoa seemed shocked for just a split second, but her composure was quickly regained. "Wow, someone's eager to pick up where we left off." There was no response. "Fine, I'm perfectly capable of doing this from a here. Are you, though?" as she said this, Kokoa picked up the desk she was recently sitting at and charged forward, smashing it down right where Moka was situated a moment before she dodged, laughing a bit.

Immediately, Naruto knew hat he had to find away to stop this, lest he allow his friends to be injured. But he didn't exactly want to harm the girl too badly. For one, he admired her fiery spirit and will to fight, even if her disregard to those caught in the crossfire irked him a bit. Also, Moka seemed to not want the girl harmed, all but putting herself into the middle of the fray so as to appease the red-head and not really allow her friends to attack.

Then, there was the comment Kokoa made about taking the fight seriously like she used to. It was obvious that they knew each other, but the question was how? Judging from the girl's face, she was amused, but also disappointed. Almost as if she was expecting more.

The blonde would have contemplated on this more and tried to figure out just what their relationship was, but something happened. Kokoa had got a good hit off of Moka, sending her into a wall and dazing her, but leaving her otherwise undamaged. The red-head chuckled as she closed the gap between them quickly and moved to swing. If she didn't notice or didn't care that Mizore jumped in the way of the swing, ice claws up in a defense that stood no chance to the girl's superior strength, it was unknown, but it was obvious that she couldn't stop herself. That's when Naruto acted.

In a burst of awe-inspiring speed, the blonde was in front of the two girls and facing Kokoa, forearms covering his face and taking the full brunt of the blow. The desk the girl was using burst into splinters, a few of the larger ones finding home in Naruto's arms and upper body, and the blonde's legs nearly buckled from the sheer force of it all, but he still stood strong, not not a sound escaping his mouth.

Everything was quite, the whole class staying still, including the by-standers that Naruto didn't care to know, as he lowered his arms, showing a glowering face. As his arms came down, it became evident that the right one was broken both from how it was awkwardly bent and the pieces of ulna and radius poking out from it.

A feeling of dread hung in the air, as Naruto's friends all held their breath, wondering just what was going to happen next. Those who had known him longer knew that he could be volatile, but neither Hotaru nor Kokoa knew this, resulting in the latter's shocked and curious disposition. As the blonde looked into his attacker's green eyes, he saw hesitation, and he played off of that.

Without warning, Naruto lashed out with his good arm and grasped Kokoa by the neck, before spinning them around and placing her against the wall. Instantaneously, the blonde's friends tried to placate him, but he just ignored them, just as he ignored the small bat slamming itself into the back of his head. Instead, he just growled as he stared intently into Kokoa's eyes, the girl trying to break his grip on her, tears building up in her own eyes.

Meanwhile, the red-head was panicking. Now that the blonde was closer to her, and his wounds were slow to heal, Kokoa could smell his blood strongly, and she was afraid. Normally, a person's blood had the traditional copper scent, with each individual having a unique medley of undertones. Naruto, however, was different.

There was still the hint of copper there, but it was sharpened to a fine point, smooth, and deadly. Then there was a harsh smell, almost like sulfur, that was up front and assaulting. This was accompanied by something more embracing, but it was almost to the point of suffocating, like something that could only protect you by burying you. Then, there was the hint of poison. That was all she could describe it as; it hung back where the others were at the forefront, it killed silently where the others ripped you to pieces. The contrast is what scared her, as t just left her uncertain as to what her fate was.

Finally, Naruto spoke. His voice was crisp like an autumn leaf, but still retained the deadly edge. "You're gonna' explain why you're here and why you attacked us. If I like your answer, you can walk away from this as you are. However, if you displease me.." Naruto tightened his grip a bit to illustrate his point, causing Kokoa to gasp and lose a bit more air.

"Wait, Naruto-san," cried out a voice to the boy's left. Looking over, he saw it was Moka. "You don't understand!"

"That's what I'm trying to do!" the blonde barked out, scaring the girl and the rest of his friends a bit. "Now, unless you feel like sharing, I'm getting to the bottom of this."

Just as he was about to start interrogating Kokoa, he heard another voice to his right. "Naruto-kun." the voice was firm, but also calming. Turning, his eyes widened seeing it was Mizore. The girls eyes matched her voice, and also had some pleading and sorrow and a bit of apology in them as she picked up his broken right arm and in a smooth motion snapped the bones back into place.

Naruto winced a bit, and was surprised that his girlfriend was so calm about that, but was thankful as now his arm would start healing faster. "Mizore-chan," he said, more to himself than anything. However, she responded as the started to pick the splinters out of his flesh.

"Let her go, Naruto-kun. Killing her won't tell you anything." he was a bit hesitant, but he listened, letting the girl drop to the ground and gasp for air, her little bat coming over to try and comfort her. Then, the blonde turned to Moka.

"Now, why did she attack us? What do you know?"

The vampire was silent for a moment, looking away, ashamed. Then, finally, "The truth is, she's my sister." many eyes widened at hearing this and a few gasped, including the 'audience' of their peers, who sat riveted as they viewed the whole scene, feeling as if they were watching a drama.

Naruto then turned to look at Kokoa again, who was getting back to her feet. It was apparent that there was bruising around where he had gripped the girl, and she weakly looked back toward him, still not all there. Her voice came out horse, and the boy almost couldn't understand her, but the message was clear. "I'm sorry. I never meant to harm you or anyone other than her." Kokoa's eyes turned to Moka, turning a bit cold, but also hurt. "We'll finish this later, onee-san," the words were mocking, and the group didn't have much time to dwell on this before the young girl pushed through the group and left. Naruto's eyes just narrowed as he watched her go.

/

It was soon after this incident, after the group had moved to a more open area where, despite the foot traffic they wouldn't be paid any mind, that Naruto and his friend's learned more of the history between Moka and Kokoa. As it turned out, Moka was actually the second youngest of four sisters, Kokoa being the youngest and of a different mother, hence her family name being Shuzen.

It was also revealed that when they were little, the two fought everyday, and, even with her tenacity, Kokoa never one. Granted, Moka's power hadn't yet been sealed and she was older, but the younger would never give up. Moka eventually left, though, and even given the time, it appeared that the rivalry had yet to wither at all. In fact, this wasn't even the first time Kokoa had found her.

Naruto left soon afterwards, the rest of the group also going their separate ways. Both Mizore and Hotaru offered to accompany him where ever he was going, to see if he wanted to talk about what had happened in the classroom, but the blonde declined. He just wanted to be alone.

Both of the girls agreed, Mizore because she respected him, even though she knew she could probably prod him into letting her tag along, and Hotaru because she really didn't have enough pull to get her way. The dark haired girl smiled to herself as she walked away, though. Naruto had shown the same disposition to her as he did with the others in the group. She was making good progress.

With his hands shoved deeply in his pockets and his head facing the ground, Naruto paced along a dirt path, same as any other path on the school grounds. Hr was trying to figure out all of these new things. How should he deal with Hotaru? What about Kokoa? Both seemed obsessive, however, for some reason Tenka seemed to have calmed a bit since their first meeting, and had even apologized.

Kokoa, though, seemed so deeply immersed in this rivalry thing. Naruto didn't quite know how that worked. Growing up, he never really had a connection with anyone except Danzou, but the man was such a senior and always so serious that making anything a competition between them was pointless.

Then, there was Hidan. Once again, Naruto was really too young and not skilled enough to challenge the man who he still thought of the strongest he had ever met. And, of course, they had gone their separate ways before Naruto could really actively strive to best the man.

Then, when he had returned to his home village, he didn't really see Sasuke as a rival, as by then, he was much stronger than him. Sure, when it most mattered he had lost, but that was due to his own arrogance. And, soon after that, he had come here, so he didn't really ever have a rivalry. However, back to the point at hand, he did like the girl's activeness and determination.

As he was so lost in thought, Naruto didn't notice as he was being tailed. Of course, even if he had been paying more careful attention, the blonde probably still wouldn't have noticed it. His shadow had had much time to practice his stealth after all. In fact, it took him actually calling out for Naruto to spin around, eyes wide, and notice him.

"I'm beginning to wonder if your going to notice me at all." standing there, seemingly relaxed, and dressed in the same clothing he was wearing when they had first met, was the grey cloaked man. It was Mr. N.

/

Hope you liked the cliff-hanger. So, my goal was to make the interactions and characters as believable as possible this time around. Did I do them justice? You tell me. So, I'm going to start focusing on the much neglected Natural Biotic now. And there was not much rejoicing. Whatever.

So, where going a bit deeper into the plot now. Who is N? What is he planing? Can he be stopped? What do you think? Send me your answers to these rhetorical questions and you will receive... a cookie! And by a cookie, I really mean... a lemon in four to five chapters! And there was much rejoicing. All kidding aside, there really will be a lemon, so, yippee. I think that's about it. So, this has been another chapter by your fellow author, totaling 12,075 words.


	20. Confrontations and Closure

So I attempted to fix this up after some complaints. However, after failed attempts to save, I can no longer be sure how thorough I was, as it just began to piss me off. But I think I got most of the things people complained about, so those who couldn't deal with this before should have a better time now. Anyway, the new chapter is being processed and should be out soon. Until then...

/

Chapter 20: Confrontations and Closure

An arid, hollow wind blew along the path, whipping up Mr. N's cloak a bit as Naruto regarded him, eyes wide, throat dry, and frozen in place. The man in grey was similarly motionless, though it was due more to boredom than disbelief or shock, waiting to see just what his favorite little plaything would do.

_'Well, favorite is a bit unfair isn't it. So, what about... newest? No, no, no, where would that place Mako? Then again, she isn't really that fun to play with, so I guess I could describe him as the newest on my favorites list. But with less than a handful of playthings to begin with, can I really have a list of favorites? Bah, semantics!'_

As the obviously deranged man attempted to figure this out, Naruto was coming closer to sorting out his own dilemma, that being convincing himself that, no, he had not descended into the depths of madness.

_'Is... is it really him. But why is he here? No, why isn't Konjyoyaki here now? Surely if this was really him, Konjyoyaki would have sensed him by now. And he would come fight him, right? Or is he testing me? Would he do that if it were really N? Or is this a genjutsu? And if it's not?There are too many possibilities. I need a second opinion on this.'_

With that, the blond turned to focusing on contacting his inner bijuu, hoping to gain some perspective. He concentrated on forming the connection, but also kept an eye on N, noticing that he seemed a bit out of it as well, perhaps trying to figure something out himself, or maybe just waiting for him to make the first move, taunting him like the bastard he was. Whatever it may be, Naruto couldn't afford to diagnose it, as he had his own problems, and at any moment the man in grey could snap and just attack him.

Knowing the dangers fully involved with it, Naruto closed his eyes so he wouldn't be distracted anymore, finding that getting the attention of the bijuu to be quite difficult for some reason. _'Come on, you stupid fuck! Answer!'_

There were a few moments of relative silence, the only sound being that of dead leaves rustling from the breeze, before the blond finally gave up.

_'Goddamn asshole! Probably off napping somewhere in MY mind ignoring me. Or my subconscious or whatever the hell it is!'_

Seeing that he would just have to figure this out on his own, Naruto opened up his blue eyes, half expecting to find that N had moved and was now right in front of him. Surprisingly, though, it appeared that he had yet to move. Just getting rather annoyed at the whole situation, Naruto decided to go for broke and see if it was just a genjutsu. Granted, he had never been good with the art of illusions, but he was competent enough of a shinobi to know how to dispel one.

Closing his eyes again, Naruto focused on his chakra and sent it in a burst outwards in a bid to disrupt any outside influence there may have been on him. However, he felt no different than before, leading him to question whether or not anything had happened. Curiously opening his eyes, he of course found N now standing right in front of him, a sick grin of twisted amusement on his face. Of course, Naruto jumped back in shock, landing several yards away.

"Let me assure you, Naru-chan, that I am so much more than an illusion."

The statement was expounded with a chuckle, something which the blond responded to with an irritated growl. Deciding to overlook the insulting pet-name, at least for the moment, Naruto kept his response curt and to the point, something which caused N's grin to dissipate if only a little.

"Why are you here?"

"To the point I see. I must say, that is a bit... disappointing. I suppose you've been training with Kon-chan, then. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, isn't it? And to think, you've hated each other for so long."

A growl stopped the man's ramblings, causing his grin to return to its previous luster. It only increased when he noticed how tense the blond was becoming.

"Enough! I refuse to play your games!"

Naruto knew that N was most likely there to pick a fight. He knew that the psycho just wanted to mess with him. But regardless, in one fluid motion, his blade was released and he was in a crouched position, right foot out front and aforementioned blade in a reverse grip behind him.

"Tell me what you're planning!"

N's amusement was palpable as the two just stood there, one in a battle stance, the other just standing with what one would think was an apathetic manner given the situation. However, the thought would change when one heard what the source of the amusement had to say next.

"Oh, you won't play my games, you say? Well then, perhaps it's time I told you that you've been playing for far longer than you know."

Naruto gave N a confused, though guarded, look as the man once again showed his mirth through chuckling.

"Yes, truth be told, I knew you when you were just a child. Though, to be fair, you are still but a child with much to learn, though you understand my meaning, I'm sure. And back then, I could have struck at anytime. But I didn't, namely because you lacked any attachment to anything what so ever. That is, until you met your little girlfriend. What was her name? Oh yes, Haku. You know, she never stopped waiting for you to save her; never gave up hope. She was foolish. And so were you. You still are, finding but a pitiful replacement for what you lost. You know, I can't tell if it will be more or less fun taking your poor little Mizore-chan away from you. Maybe I'll do it right before your eyes this time."

With each word N spoke, Naruto felt his focus slipping more and more, as he once again became but a slave to his emotions, rage being the primary one at the moment. He tried to keep it in, but soon it became too much, as he rushed foreword to his target, slashing at his chest.

"Shut up, damn it!"

However, N just surprised him by doing no more than bending at his waste a little more than ninety degrees. Somehow, his hood remained obscuring the upper portion of his face from view.

"How uncouth," he said almost as if talking about the weather, still looking straight up. Then, Naruto saw the grin light up his face. "Just the way I like you."

And with that, N put his hands to the ground and flipped his legs upwards with an immense force, knocking Naruto in the chin and sending the boy ass-over-teakettle. The man in grey didn't end there, capitalizing on the blond's temporarily stunned state by pushing off form his position and spearing him in the gut, leading with an elbow. As for Naruto, who was actually quick to get back on his feet, he had expected something along the lines of this to happen, and managed to remain on his feet, grabbing onto N and sending a few knees into his poorly protected gut before the man managed to slip away.

"Well, colour me impressed," N began, panting and wiping a bit of spittle away from his chin. "You actually handle yourself quite well under duress. I commend you, especially since there has yet to be any intervention from that god-awful beast you contain. A bit predisposed, is it?"

Hearing that sent Naruto through one gigantic loop. He _knew_ about the Kyuubi? For how long? How did he even know in the first place? Granted, nearly everyone back in Konoha knew, so there was the very real chance that N could have been from his home village. Of course, he could also somehow have been affiliated with Akatsuki, and had gleaned the information from them. Hands down though, the most worrying was that Konjyoyaki may have been up to old tricks and was playing both sides of the field. While it was true that he showed a deep-seeded hatred for the man, it could be an act. Then again, given the fact that they obviously knew each other, the information could have been given up at a previous date, possibly when the cripple was still part of Akatsuki, thus further supporting that one theory.

Then, there was the fact that N seemed to know that the Kyuubi was out of commission. How in Jashin-sama's name did the man know that? Taking a moment to think it through, Naruto realized that the statement actually could have just been referring to the fact that he wasn't using the beast's chakra, and he may have just been egging him on to start doing so. Still, taking a look at that all-knowing grin left heavy doubts in the blond's mind.

Apparently unsatisfied with the delays, N became even more pretentious in a bid to get Naruto to renew his assault. "What's this? You were so lively just a few minutes ago. Or is it that you've run out of steam?" N could see that his plan was working with the narrowing of the blond's eyes, and as he reaffirmed and tightened his grip on his sword. Just that one final push and the boy would be nothing more than a wild animal to him; no form, no fluidity. "Or is it that you've finally realized that you have no hope in defeating me, that you can't protect anyone?"

And with a fierce battle cry, Naruto rushed in, unwilling, and perhaps unable, to live with the connotations of the final insult.

(Elsewhere):

Whilst Naruto was unwillingly playing into N's hand, the winds of battle were picking up just a ways away. In an open field stood Kokoa and Moka, the two waiting across from each other. One with a self-satisfied grin on her face, and the other obviously not wanting to be there.

"Heh, I still can't believe you called me out here, Sister," the ginger spoke with a mocking tone, putting a sarcastic emphasis on the word 'sister'. As the little orange bat landed on the younger sister's shoulder, Moka couldn't help but wonder if this was a mistake.

Shaking her head a bit, her rosary jingling a bit with the motion, she dispelled those thoughts. Kokoa was more than a bit stubborn in her ways, and deep down, she knew that this was the only way. No matter how much she wanted to just talk about this, the pink-haired girl knew that no amount of talking could protect her friends. She knew that after today in the classroom.

Seeing that there was a bit of hesitation from her opponent, Kokoa threw a dissatisfied frown on her face. " Hey, you look like your about to fall asleep! Come on, I'm not going to have my fight ruined just because you're pretending to be sick or something!"

"That's not it."

Moka's words were strong, despite the girl usually being a little meek. "I'm ready to put an end to this once and for all!"

"Really?"

The Ginger actually seemed to be genuinely happy at hearing that.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting for you to say that!"

So excited was Kokoa, that the little bat had to take to the air once again, lest it lose its balance and fall. Seeing how her sister was acting like a little kid, Moka once again felt a bit of regret and hesitation. That is, until she grabbed the bat and, before her eyes, it turned into a giant spiked mace nearly double her size with a sharp metal bat-wing for a pommel. That was enough to remind her that this was no little kid, and that she was actually playing with her life.

Almost immediately, Moka had to jump back or face being crushed under the weight of the mace. As it impacted, the ground split and dust was thrown up, though Kokoa easily lifted it back up.

"Come on, you got to be careful. If you slip-up now you'll die, and that wouldn't be fun."

Her tone was taunting, but Moka knew the reasoning behind it and didn't let it affect her. Instead, she picked up an uprooted grave-marker shaped like a cross in an, albeit poor, bid to defend herself. It just caused a chuckle and a comment about a flimsy weapon.

Laughing in joy, Kokoa charged, swinging wildly and effortlessly. Moka attempted an attack of her own, trying to get her to stop. Rather predictably, the grave-marker went flying and Moka fell to the ground, the mace stopping a hair's width from her head. She didn't even blink, though held a sad look on her face.

"I lose," she said, before going off to explain herself. "Look, I know how this looks, but I tried with all of my might."

Looking at her sister, all she saw was the thin, motionless line of her mouth and the fringe covering her eyes. Worried that she was mad, she tried to move the conversation along.

"So, I guess this fights over. You wi-..."

Before she could finish, Kokoa cut her off.

"What a lie."

Moka just regarded her quietly, noticing how her voice was neutral, not giving away anything, but the moment she looked up, Moka felt her heart sink. Tears were obvious in the young girl's eyes as she lowered her weapon.

"Why can't you take me seriously?"

Moka wanted to say something, would've given anything to just reach out and hug her sister, but knew that was the last thing that Kokoa wanted at the moment. Instead, she just let the girl continue.

"Ever since you left, I've waited for that fight. The house was always so quiet, and nobody would ever offer to even humor me. For so long, it's like I've been alone in the world. Do you know what it's like?"

By this point, tears were freely rolling down the ginger's face, and despite herself, Moka could think of nothing to really fit the situation, only knowing that she had made a huge mistake. So engrossed in themselves the two were that they didn't notice the approach of other people.

"So this whole time, you've just been lonely?"

Hearing the voice, Moka took her attention off of her sister, who went ridged at being discovered in her state, and was shocked to see all of her friends there, sans Naruto. Even Hotaru and Gin has shown up. It was actually pretty moving if she thought about it. Up until the point Gin opened his mouth.

"So why are we here? And who's the ginger? Come to think of it, who are you?" he asked, turning to Hotaru. The girl paid him little mind, and Zetsu, presumably the one who brought him along in the first place, was left to answer him.

"The one next to you is Hotaru, I told you about her, though it's more than a bit surprising how you don't know her considering you're in the same year. We're here for Moka's moral support. And that girl has apparently been chasing after Moka for years."

At hearing the last bit, Gin's eyes lit up with perverted glee, obviously taking what he heard the wrong way. Even before he opened his mouth, Zetsu regretted not elaborating.

"Oh, I see. She's batting for the opposite team, eh?"

His perverted smile quickly vanished when an elbow, courtesy of Mizore, slammed violently into his stomach, causing him to double over in agony.

"They're sisters, you perverted idiot," was the curt reply from the icy girl.

Apparently not afraid of any further repercussions, the boy managed to cheekily continue with, "That doesn't prove anything," causing everyone to feel a bit embarrassed about themselves and ashamed for knowing the boy. Luckily, Kokoa either didn't hear or care what he was chuntering on about, as she remained shocked at being seen in such a state.

Choosing to return to normalcy and ignore what had just happened, Tsukune went back to what he was going to say. "So all you really wanted was some to have a connection with, right? Your constant chasing after Moka and battles were just ways of playing and rekindling a bond, weren't they?"

From Moka's point of view,she could see Kokoa's face clear as day. Tears had stopped flowing down her face, at least momentarily, as Tsukune spoke to her, but if the ginger actually heard and understood what was being bespoke unto her, she didn't know.

Cautiously, and with a good-natured smile on his face, Tsukune approached the girl. "There's no need for that anymore, because as long as you're here with us, you'll always be with your sister, and you'll have plenty of other friends, too. Isn't that right everybody?"

Tsukune turned to everybody behind him, and in return they also approached, responding with a simply nod or other form of acknowledgment, most with friendly smiles on there faces, even if the person they were meant to benefit couldn't see them.

Moka could, though, and it helped her come to grips with the entire situation. "Kokoa-chan, is that true? I-I'm sorry, I had no idea. I never thought that I was actually pushing you away. You must have went through a lot, but after this, we'll be mates again, won't we? We'll all be friends. Given time, I'm sure even Naruto-san will be you friend."

For a moment, the vampire thought that her words had gotten through, as Kokoa once again began to let tears run down her face and her lip quivered. For a moment, she looked down, and then, one simple word left her mouth.

"No."

This was met with confusion, but before anyone could think about it, they had to either jump back or hit the ground, as the girl once again hefted her oversized mace and swung wildly.

"I knew that there was never any hope of you understanding! And what's with all this friendship crap? Are you serious?"

As she continued to swing, the others continued to dodge, Tsukune idly reminiscing on how his plan had failed. "Bollocks! Where did my speech go wrong?"

"I think it's pretty obvious you ballsed-up."

Turning, Tsukune saw gin, who was dodging effortlessly. Sometimes, he envied the man, though not often enough to become a habit. Next to him was Zetsu, who was also having little trouble.

"I really wouldn't become a therapist if I were you. After all, if you can't understand the mind of a young girl, what help would you be to anyone?"

That's not what you were saying when you were agreeing with me!" he yelled back, hoping that they would see some error in their own decisions. However, Hotaru was just the next to prove him wrong and destroy his self-esteem.

"We just didn't want you to feel bad." This was met with unanimous nods, something that got the boy falling into a funk, something he quickly snapped out of when he noticed Moka had tripped and the mace was coming straight for her.

Acting quickly, being the closest one to the couple, Tsukune leapt towards them, hoping that he would prevent anyone from getting injured. However, he knew that unless there was an act of divine intervention, he had no hope of making the save.

(Back with Naruto):

Things weren't going well for Naruto. Since he had charged in head first, N had continuously played and kept moving their battle deeper into the woods, effortlessly dodging and countering each attempt Naruto made to maim him, something quite literally rubbed in his face as N once more danced around a stab and, grabbing the back of the blond's head, slammed his face repeatedly into a nearby tree before dragging it down the coarse surface, embedding pieces of bark in boy's face before it finally, and violently, met the dirt.

Naruto then felt his head get pulled up by his hair, and heard N start speaking to him, but was too disoriented to see straight. For some reason, Kyuubi wasn't healing his injuries like he should, and it was causing him to become worn out fast. He knew that when all was said and done, he was going to have a nice, long chat with a certain fox. Read: he was going to chew his ass out.

"You know, I never realized how dependent you were on that fowl beast."

By now, the words barely fazed the blond. He knew he was an idiot for letting it get to him in the first place, but now, he had to be cautious. He had to make N believe what he might be expected to believe.

"Come on, look up at me."

With his free hand, N grasped Naruto's chin and had him gaze up at his shadowed face. The boy resisted the urge to attack then and there, knowing that even if N looked defenseless, it was still too early. Instead, he just glared at the man, resistance shining in his eyes. This elicited a snicker from the nutter.

"Wow, such defiance from someone so beaten, so nearly broken. How much more do you think it would take to ruin you completely?"

"Fuck you."

"Oh my, I guess you haven't quite learned your lesson yet. Such a fool."

As he said that, he released the lad's chin and reached under his cloak and produced a small, sharp dagger that gleamed in the faint light. He pressed it hard against the blond's neck, just enough to draw blood and cause significant discomfort and panic in anyone else.

"I know you can't die, but it will be amusing to watch you bleed out and struggle for air. Know what I mean?" This was accompanied by a menacing chuckle as he got ready to slit Naruto's throat. "Of course you do."

knowing that it was now or never, Naruto moved with a swift deftness and impaled his blade, which N had apparently forgotten about, deep into the man's foot. Surprised and in pain, n dropped the dagger and reflexively reached down to get the sword out of his foot, but instead Naruto twisted it, intent on inflicting as much pain on the man as possible, and jumped up quickly, driving his head into the screwy man's unprotected jaw.

With satisfaction, the blond could hear the cracking of teeth and saw the mist of blood exit the man's mouth. Then, putting his weight on his blade, he used it as a pivot and slammed a foot into the startled man's knee, effectively breaking it as he folded to the ground. Satisfied, the blond removed his sword and got up, ready to finish the man off.

However, his mistake was thinking N was out of commission. Instead, the man managed to send a surprisingly strong kick into Naruto's gut from his position, knocking him back. Quite forcefully into a tree. The shock was enough that the wakizashi finally dispelled. The lad than slumped to the ground, looking up weakly to see N shuffling towards him, blood flowing like a stream from his mouth. Surprisingly, his words were still coherent.

"You are such an impudent little brat, you know that. And, as much as it pains me to say this, you've forced my retreat. Head my words, though."

When he got close enough, N picked the blond up by his neck, who was too weak to do anything at the moment. He could see the bloody and chipped teeth of the fruitcake as he leaned in close to speak. He could also see an energy covering the man's fist as he pulled it back in a punch. As he spoke, blood splattered the blond's face, perhaps inadvertently, but probably not.

"You and I will meet again, on in my territory, and more than you could ever imagine will be on the line."

And with that, the glowing fist was sent into Naruto's stomach, causing a blinding flash of light and an explosion that rocked the whole forest.

(With Tsukune and Company):

With the adrenaline coursing through his veins, panic assaulting him full force, Tsukune found himself in a sort of out-of-body state. Here, time moved slower, allowing him to take in all the details around him... up to a limit. For some reason, he still experienced tunnel-vision, making it so only what was directly in front of him became forever imprinted in his memory.

All the stylistic touches of the mace suddenly dawned upon him. The handle itself gave off a slight sheen, same as the giant metal ball it was attached to, almost enough to give a mirror-like polish to it. The elegant bat-wing for a pommel, something that seemed just as deadly as its crushing reciprocal, designed with a combination of beauty and efficiency in mind. And, of course, the shining spikes that maimed that reflected everything around it; Kokoa's frustrated, agonized look, Moka's shocked, helpless face, which in turn effected his own panicked and determined visage.

Then, the boy became aware of a brilliant white light, shining off the mace and just barely at the edge of him limited vision, followed by the slow compressions of sound waves against his eardrums in an explosion. Time seemed to return to normal then, as a smoking green and yellow blur shot out of the nearby woods and into the young vampire and her mace, sending them over Moka's vulnerable position, thus saving her from harm. Nonetheless, this all happened so suddenly, and Tsukune's momentum so so great to begin with, that he had no chance of stopping, especially when a decompression wave sent him stumbling into the girl he was trying to save.

Just a few feet from them, where everyone's eyes were turned, a series of groans were heard. It appeared that Kokoa had somehow ended up on top of the human projectile that caused her to miss her target. Another groan escaped her as she slowly rose, holding her head as she straddled the person. As she regained her barrings, she was finally able to make out just who she was on top of and his condition, both her body and voice shaking to show her unease. "Y-you!"

The others also appeared to finally comprehend, as Mizore shouted on the person's behalf and rushed over to the duo, followed closely by Zetsu and Hotaru. "Naruto-kun!"

Those remaining, unsure of themselves, son decided to follow after to see how Moka and Tsukune were holding up. Meanwhile, Naruto seemed to regain the consciousness he had lost from that final blow, only to hear the sound of his name being called. Faintly, he realized that there was a weight on his back, but attempted to rise anyway. "What the...?" he cut himself off to his in pain, his back almost sending him back into darkness. He refused to fall though.

A bit of weight soon left Naruto's back, though it didn't lessen the agony any. He then heard a voice close to him, a bit panicked. "Hey, you okay? Is there anything I can do for you?"

Looking up, he saw that it was Kokoa, causing a flash of irritation in him, though he used all the resolve he had to keep from outright snapping at her, seeing that she was distressed. It didn't stop him from allowing his latent anger from both her and N to seep into his voice.

"Well, that depends," he began noticing the girl flinch a bit at his tone. "Just what's wrong with me?"

"U-um, you see..."

Predictably, this just wore away at the blond's patience even more, and he just ended up using the most scathing voice he could muster, managing to somehow not send the girl away completely. "Stop mincing your words and just come out with it!"

At that time, the group had finally managed to get themselves over, causing a bit of relief to wash over Naruto, knowing that there were now some reliable people around him. Turning to Hotaru, he decided to see just how much he could tolerate her.

"You, why can't I move?"

The girl was a bit put off by the spontaneity of the demand veiled as a question, but was soon able to answer. "There's a giant mace in your back."

Despite the tone of the girl's voice, Naruto didn't quite believe her. Instead, he managed to turn his head, ignoring the pain flaring and protests from the others not to, and saw, yes, a giant mace was embedded deep into his flesh, the handle skewed up at an angle towards his head. How Kokoa managed to not get injured by it when she was on top of him was beyond him.

"Yours, I assume?" he asked, turning back to the ginger. She weakly nodded an affirmative.

"I-I can get it out if yo-..." she was cut off by the blond's harsh voice.

"You've done enough."

With that, he grasped the handle and attempted to pry the weapon out himself, but due to the angle and how deep in him it was, the only thing he accomplished was to cause himself more pain. He soon gave up and turned to his friends.

"Zetsu, help me out with this."

The giant moved forward to lend assistance, but was stopped by Mizore. "Wait, that mace it your pet bat, isn't it?"

The girl received a nod from the vampire, causing her to continue.

"Can't you just have it revert back to its animal form?"

Kokoa shook her head. "No, Ko-chan can't change if he's stuck in something. Otherwise I would have had him do so already."

Seeing that there was no alternative, Mizore gave Zetsu permission to continue. The man did so, and, grasping the mace in his hands, getting a good footing, the man yanked in an attempt to dislodge t from his friend. It barely budged, and just succeeded in causing the blond to gasp a bit.

"Just how heavy is this thing?" asked Zetsu, a bit strained from how much effort he put into the task for no result.

"Nearly two-hundred pounds. Maybe more."

Everyone just stared at the girl after that, wondering how she ever managed to lift such a thing with such a petite body. The point was moot, though, as Zetsu soon just backed away from Naruto, causing the blond to cast him a curious glance.

"What gives?"

"I think it would be for the best if you allowed her to remove her weapon. I don't believe that I could do so safely."

"It's not like I'm going to die, just do it!"

The irritable remark caused a few glances to be cast at him from those who didn't know he was immortal. However, the man still refused.

"No. You, girl, get your weapon out of him."

Kokoa was a bit hesitant, especially with Naruto's outright refusal to let her help. She didn't want to make the person who could probably kill her quite easily to be mad at her. However, a few words from Mizore soon changed her perspective.

"Please help him; he's just being irrational. I promise that I won't let him hurt you afterwards."

The ice woman than turned to Naruto, who was still protesting.

"Please, Naruto-kun, just let her help."

The blond stopped his whinging right quick after that, though it was obvious that he was still disgruntled.

The ginger decided to get this over with quickly. Remembering that Naruto apparently wasn't too concerned with safety, she just grasped her weapon and yanked it out with a sickening tearing sound and a muffled cry from the blond. Looking down, she almost dropped her mace in shock and disgust at the state the boy was in.

Blood was freely flowing from his wounds, from which bone and organs and muscle alike were visible. The boy seemed able to ignore this, though, as he soon rose to his feet as if nothing had happened. She soon saw why as his skin soon began to knit itself back together. Deciding that it would be for the best right now, she had the weapon turn back into a pet and put on a humble and apologetic face, preparing to face the one who she had injured not once, but twice in one day, before leaving.

"You okay?" asked Mizore as she helped to steady Naruto.

"Yeah," was his only response. He could feel his major wound begin to heal, and noticed the one's incurred by N were gone, letting him know that Kyuubi was back, which left him with the question of what had happened to it in the first place. Knowing that it would take but a few seconds, the blond tuned everything around him out and initiated conversation.

_'Hey, Kyuubi, what's up?'_

The blond made sure to inflect his mental voice so the beast would know how bitter and sore he was about the previous happenings. The reply was surprisingly demure, though was topped with high-notes of sarcasm.

"**Right, right. Before you go any further with that thought, I apologize."**

Naruto wasn't satisfied with that answer, and pushed harder, wanting to know exactly why the bijuu didn't intervene. _'No, I want to know why. What could have possibly possessed you...'_ he was cut off before he could finish, the Kyuubi obviously not liking the condescending tone. Predictably, the response held more bite.

"**Fine! I'm so sorry for healing you, but the damage that you did to yourself was getting to be too great. Besides, I assumed you were done training."**

Now that caught Naruto off-guard. Training? He was _sorry_ for healing him? What the bloody hell was he yammering on about? The blond was just about to ask that, when a thought occurred to him. Instead, he decided to play off the beast's obliviousness.

Putting back up his indignant voice, he continued his, now faux, chastising. _'No, tell me, what did I say just before I started?'_

"**You didn't say anything!" **the Kyuubi yelled, now incredulous. **"All you did was cut off our consciousness from each other before going into the woods to train how much damage you could take with a damn bunshin, going so far as to even utilizing some of _my_ power in the end!"**

Well, that explained what the Kyuubi thought had happened and why he didn't work with him, but it only brought up more fearful thoughts. What if it was Naruto who had been hallucinating the whole thing? No, he knew what had happened, knew N was really there. But the beast seemed just as sure of events as him. Still, he found himself grasping for an explanation that didn't frighten him.

This was hurting his head, though, so he just decided to end the conversation before going back to sort things out in the real world. Keeping up the facade, the blond heaved a mental sigh and shifted to a more apologetic tone. _'You're right, I'm sorry. Let's... let's just forget about this, okay?'_

The Kyuubi but caught off guard by this one-eighty flip in personality, but didn't have a chance to question it as the blond returned his focus to other matters. He, of course, came back to Mizore asking, "Just what happened to send you flying out of those trees?"

"Training," was the simple, one word answer that Naruto gave, stating the reason Kyuubi did a few moments ago. The blond made sure to make his voice sound as begrudging as possible, whilst also looking away and rubbing the back of his neck a bit, giving off the convincing impression that he had messed up whatever he was doing. He wasn't sure if either Mizore or Zetsu believed him, but he could tell them if confronted later in a more secluded setting.

It was then that Naruto turned his focus back to Kokoa. Faced with the blond's scrutinizing gaze, the ginger felt herself look down, despite feeling disgusted with such an action. Hell, she felt disgusted with herself whenever she was around the boy. It was because she felt weak; she felt fear. As a vampire, it should be out of the question to feel anything like that, especially around such a (in her eyes) lesser being.

However, in any event, she couldn't help what she felt. There was just something about the blond that scared her, and as such, she found herself so submissive around him. It was that which lead to the urge to appease Naruto alone that she offered up a solemn, "Sorry," and waited for whatever he may do.

After a few moments, nothing had happened, piquing the girl's curiosity. No one had yet to even move, and still looking down, Kokoa found herself at a loss for as to what they were doing. So, she naturally tilted her head back up, looking directly at Naruto and his friends behind him. She felt anger welling up inside her as she realized that she was just being stared at, blank confusion written on the faces of all parties.

The ginger was just about to yell at them, when she noticed Naruto move forward, raising his hand. The vampire felt all her anger vanish in that second as she unintentionally flinched, shutting her eyes and waiting for the inevitable blow. However, when all she felt was a hand land on her shoulder, she peeked and saw a tired looking blond looking her in the eyes, making her feel stupid for her behavior.

Naruto just wanted this day to end. It may have only been the first week since the academy had started back up again, but in his defense, it was late, and in just that day he had had the lives of his friends put at risk, been utterly demolished by his arch-enemy, and had an alter-ego (for a lack of better word) have a differing recollection for the past hour, coupled with the fact that he had just heal from some pretty good mutilation. In short, he had had enough of this shit, and couldn't even really stand to be mad any more, even if the object of his would-be ire probably didn't deserve it at the moment, something he would think back to at a later time. Instead, he just decided to confront the issue head-on, like with most everything else in his life.

"Tell me something," he began, keeping his voice as steady as possible and softening his features, trying to calm the girl in hopes of a quick and honest answer, "just what is the point of all this?"

She couldn't believe it. Even this guy apparently wanted to help her. The guy who had nearly killed her earlier in the day wanted to help solve her problems, even if she had (unintentionally) caused him grievous bodily harm. Really, the whole sentiment wore away at the young vampire's spirit, even if it wasn't necessarily true, and, despite herself, couldn't stop the stray tear rolling down her cheek. She turned away quickly, hoping to hide it.

"I just want to see my onee-sama."

Immediately, the gears began turning in Naruto's head. She had seen Moka multiple times, hadn't she? Looking over to his right, he saw the pink-haired girl and the others talking about what had happened before he had shown up. Apparently the ginger had been fighting her again. Apparently she had gone into a rage, even though she had won their little spat. So what, then?

It was at that point that it clicked in the blond's head. He turned fully to the group that was slowly making it's way over to them, shocking Kokoa with the sudden action as he accidentally pushed her away. "Hey, Tsukune!" he called out, halting the groups progression and causing everyone's eyes to turn to him. "Take off Moka's rosary for a moment!"

"W-Why?" the boy asked, caught unawares by the sudden demand. He and his group were just discussing what the others were confronting Kokoa about and why she kept picking fights in the first place when Naruto just shouted at them, seemingly rushed. He sort of wanted an answer for the demand since the other Moka didn't really seem like one to socialize, and he doubted that she would appreciate this much.

Naruto wasn't having any of it though, and pushed on. "Stop being a bloody yobbo and just do it already! Stupid wanker," he added under his breath.

Fearful of his friend's unholy wrath, the brunet complied with the demand and quickly detached the rosary with a dull click. What happened next was the obligatory flash of light and before everyone stood the silver-haired vampire, obvious disdain for being called out obvious on her face. However, what only she and Naruto noticed as the former surveyed the area was Kokoa's shocked, almost disbelieving, expression.

"Onee-sama?" Kokoa took a hesitant step foreward, followed sporadically by another one, before getting her pacing down. Moka was calmer, a neutral look on her face as she met her sister halfway. Most watched with bated breath as Moka gazed down upon her sister, Kokoa trying again with, "Is it really you Onee-sama?"

It really shouldn't have come as a shock to anyone (though to a few people, it did) when Moka's only response was a half-sneer and a kick to the chin that sent her sister flying. From the look on the elder vampire's face, it was as if she had done the most natural thing in the world, like blinking, as she turned away from where her sister once stood. Others couldn't keep the inevitable expressions off their faces, realizing that of course this would happen, though Naruto remained stoic, which would have normally shocked one who knew the emotive boy.

"M-Moka," said vampire turned to Tsukune, an exasperated look on his face as he continued, "Why did you do that? I don't think that's what Naruto had in mind."

"No, that's exactly what I thought would happen, more or less," the boy replied with a shrug. And although people should have also expected a response of the semi-violent nature or connotation from the blond, they still found themselves giving him a look that said, 'Really?' or 'You're not helping!'. Still, those who knew him best decided to trust his judgment.

And as for Moka, she just said, "See, he knows what's up. He's not a complete idiot who would go for the ideal rather then reality."

All talking was forced to cease, however, as a blast of power came at them from where the ginger had flown off to. Looking in that direction, everyone saw that yes, she was up again, and for all intents and purposes, she looked pissed. Feeling a bit snarky even with the situation, Tsukune turned to Naruto and went, "Oh yeah, that helped a lot, didn't mate?"

"Quit whinging and just watch," was Naruto's annoyed response. So he did, watching as Kokoa just kept emitting more and more power, before she began charging her sister at high speeds. Just as Tsukune was about to ask how getting the two to fight was any kind of solution, considering it was the type of thing they were trying to stop, his tongue got tied up as he and the others just watched the ginger fling her arms around her sister's neck and began wailing. Apparently, even Moka was confused.

"Kokoa, what are you doing? I thought you wanted to kill me?"

Through her tears, Kokoa managed to get out a coherent thought. "For so long I just wanted to see you again! Please, Onee-sama, don't leave me again!"

"And that's my good deed for the month," said Naruto as he turned to leave. He was stopped, however, by Tsukune's voice.

"Wait, how did you know this would happen?"

"Yeah, what made you think they wouldn't fight like they did earlier?" followed up Kurumu. Naruto just sighed.

"Honestly, you people are too near-sighted when it comes to these matters. Kokoa expressed wanting to see her sister. You just assumed that meant nice, pink-haired Moka. You're forgetting Moka didn't get the rosary until after leaving home. Silver-haired Moka is the one Kokoa knows and loves. Sure, they may have fought initially, but Kokoa would have eventually wanted to catch up with her sister... probably."

"So wait, what happens when Moka reverts to her other self?" asked Yukari? "Won't Kokoa just stare fighting her again?"

The blond just shrugged. "I'm sure you'll figure something out. If not, we'll start rehabilitation when it starts pissing me off. But I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

And with a yawn, Naruto left the scene, the others dispersing a their own pace. As she left though, Mizore couldn't help but smile. Naruto may have tried to come off as hard and a bit distant at times, but he truly cared about his friend's. And that's why she loved him, because when it really counted, he would help them with the unbeatable challenge in his own, unique way, enjoying the company while doing it, even if he was so head-strong he hated being questioned by them.

(The Next Morning):

Even after a night's rest, the blond was still knackered the next day. Suppressing a yawn, Naruto continued at a leisurely pace down the path to the school. As he did so, he pushed the events of the day before to the back of his mind, not wanting to deal with that shit so early in the morning.

It wasn't long before he met up with Mizore, causing him to cheer up almost instantaneously. The two shared a warm smile as they walked on, no words exchanged, no words needing to be as they escorted on another to school, hand in hand. As far as they were concerned, they were the only two people in the world, and they had forever, having the ability to just bask in each others presence. It was times like these that made Naruto glad he had started to live again, even if it did force him to think of why, exactly, he was there in the first place and have occasional, brief bouts of angst.

The two were knocked out of their thoughts, however, when they stumbled across something interesting. "Hey, runt," Naruto began, keeping his voice low and level as he spoke, "what you up to?"

His words caught their target's attention, breaking them out of their introspective state. A bit startled, Kokoa, spun around, seeing the couple. She stared, wide-eyed, as a blush crept onto her face, embarrassed at being caught spying on her sister.

Mizore playfully admonished her beau, saying simply, "Be nice, Naruto-kun."

"I'm being nice," was the half-hearted response. It was then that he further surveyed the scene, seeing that the ginger was, of course, watching Moka having a light breakfast of Tsukune's blood. He could guess, but asked regardless, "What's the problem?"

"Why do you care?" retorted Kokoa, getting a bit defensive. It caused a few raised brows.

"I can care about stuff. After all, I saved the day yesterday, didn't I?"

A smug look came over his face, contrasting the livid one on Kokoa's however, his next words caused that to change.

"Also, as much as I hate to admit it, you're fun, and could actually see you as a... friend," he stumbled over the last word, looking away and causing Mizore to giggle into her free hand. "So just let us help."

The ginger didn't know why, especially since Naruto had made her fear for her life whenever they encountered one another, but she soon found herself talking, maybe because she sensed some truth in his words, finishing by saying, "It's just that she isn't my Onee-sama when she's like that, and I don't know why she's so different."

She was stopped from explaining further as Kurumu flew in, knocking Moka from Tsukune and pressing him against her chest. It then relapsed into a childish tussle between the two, causing Kokoa to grimace.

"See, normally the succubus would be dead ten times over by now for what she just did. But instead, it's just... this."

Naruto analyzed the situation and immediately agreed. There really weren't any parallels between the two Moka's, so it would obviously be hard for Kokoa to just adapt to it. Sighing, Naruto just shook his head.

"I really can't offer you a solution, runt. I suppose with time you may come to accept it, but until then, we'll just have to try to take your mind off of it."

"Yeah, whatever."

Kokoa's voice was bitter as she turned away, stalking off to the academy. Naruto and Mizore watched her going, not being able to help feeling sorry for her. Still, what could they do, so instead they walked up to meet their mates before lessons started, knowing that there would be no easy solution to the problem.

(In the Clubroom):

The day had passed swiftly, and before anyone knew it, club activities were starting for the upper classes. During the day, both Mizore and Naruto had managed to inform both Zetsu and Hotaru of their encounter with Kokoa earlier in the day, hoping they may have had any better ideas. Sadly, they weren't able to think of anything at the time, and were now having another meeting of the minds, Hotaru having transferred to the newspaper club at some point before now, something that caused Naruto suspicion, but the blond let it slip. The girl seemed to be proving as someone he could trust, just with her own quirks. Granted, they all had something strange about them, but Hotaru's qualities were taking a bit of getting used to.

So were Kokoa's more abrasive ones, something that immediately came to mind as said girl walked calmly into the room, a determined look on her face. Instinctively, everyone tensed, on guard for what the ginger may be up to. They were left in a stupor, though, when all she did was nod to her sister and friends before walking over to Naruto's table.

After a bit of trepidation, Naruto finally asked, "What's up, runt?"

The vampire shot the blond a miniature glare, before heaving a sigh and saying so that only the five of them could hear, "I've decided to try it your way... for now. The moment I get proof that this is a waste of time, I'm off."

The group shared a glance at Kokoa's ultimatum, noticing that the other group was sending discreet glances their way, before collectively shrugging.

Kicking his feet back on the table, Naruto leaned back in his chair and simply responded with, "Do whatever you want. But hey," and here, everyone in the group put on a small smile, "it's good to see you're willing to try. You should also get in a chance to socialize with the others."

"Yeah, yeah," the ginger said, looking away so that the others wouldn't see an involuntary smirk.

"So, why don't we all formally introduce ourselves? I'll start. My name is Tenka Hotaru. This is my third year at Youkai Academy. From my understanding, the group gets into a lot of conflicts, if last year was any indication. I can hold my own in a fight against most opponents, though I prefer passive methods."

As Hotaru spoke, Naruto, Mizore, and, to a lesser extent, Zetsu cringed at the mention of the previous year. Truthfully, they hoped that it wasn't a repeat, what with Naruto being forced to work for them enemy and the school being destroyed, but they knew they would probably still be fighting other people a lot of the year.

Meanwhile, Kurumu, Moka, and Tsukune were conversing about the recent development, unable to hear what was being said.

"Well, it looks like your sister can stand being in the same room without attacking you. That's something, right?" asked Tsukune.

He was met with a sigh. "I suppose, but... it's almost like she's ignoring me now. I know from yesterday she doesn't hate me, but I'm just not sure if she'll accept me unless the rosary is released."

"Then why don't you go talk to her about it?" asked Kurumu, trying to break her rival out of her melancholy.

Casting a forlorn glance to her sister, seeing the small, genuine smile on her face, she shook her head.

"No, I don't want to push this. It's too soon. It might just be best for me to take it slow."

And, looking back one more time, Moka got the other two to talk about something else.

Back with Kokoa, Zetsu was just introducing himself. "My name's Zetsu. I abandoned my family long ago, so don't ask about it. I have a rare skin disease and chemical imbalance that makes disguising it impossible. This is my second year. As far as combat goes, my size is usually enough to intimidate enemies, along with my appearance, and my agility makes up from my standard strength."

"Right, my name is Shirayuki Mizore. This is my second year here. My abilities give me combat effectiveness at both close-quarters and medium range combat."

"And I'm Uzumaki Naruto. This is my second year here. I'm skilled in the art of kenjutsu, and an accelerated healing rate allows me to get up close and personal with whatever assholes we're fighting, and I can usually take them down with my skills."

While simply saying he had an accelerated healing rate was an understatement, mostly on behave of Hotaru, who Naruto didn't want knowing was immortal just yet, he still sported an extremely confident grin. Of course, those who didn't know of his immortality knew he was holding something back.

"Okay, your turn," said Hotaru, preppy for some reason.

A bit embarrassed, Kokoa shook her head. "No, that's fine."

"Come on, we shared a bit about ourselves. Your turn," Mizore prodded playfully.

"Yeah, come on," Naruto agreed, still in his laid back position. Truthfully, he didn't care, but if it would help end the sibling trouble between her and Moka, he would listen and play along. Finally, Kokoa relented, a smile on her face.

"Fine. I'm Shuzen Kokoa. This is my first year here, as you know. As a vampire, I can take on anyone, especially with the help of Ko-chan here," as she said that, she indicated to the small bat resting on her shoulder, "who can take on various weapon forms."

"And I'm Amami Konjyoyaki, though you'd know that if you'd bothered showing up for class."

The voice shocked everyone in the room, causing them to turn and see Konjyoyaki hanging off the window sill with his one arm, a disgruntled look on his face. Hanging next to him was a familiar witch with a happy expression, contrasting his.

"And I'm Tojou Ruby. Nice to meet you."

"All kidding aside, though, we have trouble," Konjyoyaki continued, causing Ruby to quickly sober up. Naruto wasn't having it, though, as the ma's sudden appearance had caused him to fall out of his chair.

"What the bloody hell, man?"

He didn't get a response, as soon after that, little Yukari came bursting in through the door, proclaiming, "Guy's, there's trouble!"

It was then that she took notice of the two people hanging out the window, Kokoa and Hotaru sitting at a table like it was natural for them to be there, and Naruto, who was still lying on the floor, along with everyone else looking at her blankly.

Of course, here only response was a confused, "What?"

(At the Scene of Trouble):

"The hell happened?" asked Naruto impulsively once he saw the scene. Really, it was what most everyone was thinking, as they took into account the yellow tape tied to trees, "Keep Out," displayed prominently on them, markers indicating the location of evidence, and a wounded student being loaded into a transport to the medical facility, along with what seemed to be some new campus law enforcement.

Around the group were other students, varying degrees of apprehension and confusion visible on their faces, making it obvious that they didn't quite know what was going on completely. Turning to his pseudo-mentor, Naruto demanded an explanation.

"So? What's going on? What is this?"

Pausing to take another drag, Konjyoyaki then removed his cigarette from his mouth completely, something he rarely did, and exhaled the smoke, before simply saying, "This is the work of someone the school has taken to calling 'The Slasher'. Not really creative, but oh well."

Seeing the glare from the blond, the infirm decided to cut the commentary and stick to the facts.

"As of this attack, there have been twelve students injured with three more currently missing. The culprit takes to using a knife, and doesn't restrict himself to any one area of the school."

"Wait, that many students have been attacked in such a short period of time, and your only telling us now?" as expected, Naruto was a bit upset, as were the others, but Konjyoyaki shrugged it off. Instead, Ruby took his place to answer the question.

"The school faculty didn't see reason in scaring the student body so early in the year without reason."

"That, and they were too incompetent to actually piece together that the attacks were somehow connected," was Kon's cynical response.

"Regardless, this will make a great scoop for the paper," added Kurumu, getting some nods of agreement. "If we're lucky, we may even get an interview with the person who finds him."

"And that's the kicker," said Kon, starting a new cigarette. "We're officially employing your help in finding the scumbag."

That statement was meat with many looks of shock, with Yukari being the one asking, "You would knowingly put students in potential harm?"

"You're always in potential harm here, as is the violent nature of monsters attempting to co-exist. Besides, you should be used to it after last year."

"But wait, aren't you supposed to be gifted with being able to sense people really well? Shouldn't you be able to easily find him?"

"Yeah, except I have no idea what his energy feels like, you yobbo. That's kind of imperative in tracking people. And before you ask, Zetsu's in roughly the same boat."

Seeing as neither Naruto nor anyone else could think of any other questions or arguments, they resigned to being forced to help out the sociopathic man his investigation. At hearing all of them comply, he reached into his coat and retrieved a paper tube.

"Good, study this map and search any leads. I'll see you later."

And with that, Kon simply turned and walked away. Ruby at least waved to the group, a smile on her face, before following. The group, dejected slowly returned to the club room, going to study the map like they were told.

(Back in the Clubroom):

"So, where do we start?" asked Naruto, wanting to get this whole ordeal over with as soon as he could. While he liked the idea of kicking ass, unleashing the pent-up rage he had against Mr. N with whatever unlucky sap stood in his way, the man didn't like having to hunt them down.

Meanwhile, Yukari had finished putting the map up on the chalkboard, right behind the sleeping form of their club supervisor, pointing at various locations with her wand. "As you can see as indicated by the X-markings, The Slasher doesn't restrict his movements to any one area of the campus, nor does he discriminate against who he attacks. In all reality, the culprit could be a student or educator, but it is unlikely, seeing as no one who has seen them has recognized them."

"So we're basically searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack," said Zetsu, obviously as excited by the prospect of canvasing the entire campus as the rest of the gang.

"In that case, doesn't it make sense for all of us to split up?" asked Hotaru, which was met with a shake of the head by Yukari.

"Think about it: The Slasher targets those who are caught on their own in desolate areas of the school. It would almost be like giving him an invitation to get the drop on us. We should at least travel in pairs."

It was Mizore who cut in next. "But wouldn't that deter him from showing himself? It would just make it harder to find him, and it would take longer to cover more ground."

"And what if someone does find him and needs backup?" questioned Kurumu. "Isn't our safety more important than necessarily finding this creep?"

And so the verbal dispute ensued, each person arguing whether if it was better to go off alone, in small groups, two large groups, or all together. Everyone took part, rather loudly voicing their opinions and why the other options were wrong.

There was, however, one person who did not participate. Kokoa, instead of arguing senselessly, approached the map to better examine it. As she noticed something, she loudly called attention to it.

"Hey, what's this symbol mean?"

Everyone stopped mid-yell, to see the ginger pointing to pointing to what consisted of two triangles, on inside the other, at a distant edge of the map. The young witch was the one to supply an answer.

"That symbol denotes the location of a dungeon."

"Dungeon?"

"Yes. Long ago, those who killed others in the school or the human world were imprisoned in that dungeon. It has since fallen to disrepair and is no longer used, though some say it still retains a dark taint within it."

"Wait," interrupted Kurumu, "are you saying that you think this guy is hiding out there? Shouldn't we be going off a little more than guess-work here?"

"What's wrong, scared?" asked Kokoa. Naruto, Mizore, and Zetsu could immediately see where the girl was going with this. She thought perhaps Moka's friends were influencing her less-than-acceptable behavior for a vampire, so why not take her frustration out on them? "Oh, that's right, a lowly monster like you wouldn't stand a chance against the criminal even if we did find him. That's why you're so adamant to search in groups, isn't it?"

Kurumu was visibly seething from the comment, as Kokoa held an air of superiority about her.

Finally, she grabbed her sister's arm and said, "Fine, you can stay here while me and Moka go get the criminal," much to the surprise of those who hadn't spent time with Kokoa, seeing as they though the ginger still had mixed feelings about Moka.

Nevertheless, Kokoa excitedly dragged her sister hurriedly out the door, the little bat following them. Surprised, Tsukune tried to chase after them, but was intercepted by Naruto.

"What are you doing, Naruto-san? I have to go after them!"

"Why? You actually think you'll be able to catch up to them? What's the point?"

"I'm the only one who can remove the rosary! Without me, Moka's likely to be no more than a liability if they confront the criminal!"

"And you won't be any better off if you go after them so recklessly," Mizore interjected, causing Tsukune to stop struggling. "Remember, The Slasher may not even be at the dungeon, but if he's lying somewhere on the path there, you're more likely to be targeted as an individual than they are as a group. You need to think."

That sobered the boy up rather quickly, prompting Naruto to release the lad. "We still need to search the whole area if we hope to find this guy if that brat's wrong."

Suddenly, a look came over Tsukune's face, indicating it was obvious that he had an idea.

"Wait, can't you make copies of yourself, Naruto-san?"

For a moment, the blond just stood their, looking at Tsukune with a blank look on his face. Finally, he palmed himself, clearly embarrassed that he had failed to think of that himself.

"Bollocks! Why didn't I think of that?"

Without further ado, the blond created a bunch of clones, before everyone rushed out of the room at their own pace, leaving Tsukune, Yukari, and Hotaru at the back, while Zetsu simply melded with the ground, intending to show up right outside the dungeon.

(The Dungeon):

It didn't take long for the siblings to reach the entrance of the dungeon, having stopped only to pick up a lantern, which Moka was now holding. Along the way, the pink-haired vampire also learned that, while she herself no longer held her sister's general ire, Kokoa had projected her hate unto Tsukune, Kurumu, and Yukari, thinking they were the reason she was so weak as opposed to her other self.

And while she wanted to tell her sister that it was her rosary that suppressed both her power and personality, making her more of an alter-ego to her more controlling and ruthless self, and that her friends actually made her stronger, giving her something that even her other-self could fight for, she found that her words were dying on her lips. After making up ground with her sister, she didn't want to lose it, even if it was wrong to not defend her friends.

However, she took her mind off the subject as the two stopped, watching as Zetsu finished melding out of the ground right in front of the. Backing up a little, Kokoa found herself surprised, the words, "What the bloody hell?" escaping her in a shocked gasp.

As if just noticing them, Zetsu turned and asked, "Why are you so surprised?"

"You just came out of the ground! You never said you could do that!"

"He never said he couldn't, either."

Even more shocked than before, both girls tuned and saw Naruto, his lax for leaning against a tree. Wanting to prod for more information, Kokoa was interrupted by Zetsu asking, are we going inside or not?"

Before they knew it, the four were traveling through the derelict remains of the dungeon, questions running through all their minds, though being to busy basking in the almost eerie silence to ask. Finally, curiosity got to Moka, and she asked, "Hey, Naruto-san, where are the others?"

"Hm? Oh, we all rushed here at our own pace. The others will get here on there own time. Anyway, why are you so sure this criminal holed himself up in here, runt?"

"Stop calling me that!" Kokoa growled, before reverting to her more enthusiastic and answering, "Anyway, I noticed all the attacks followed a trail either to or from this dungeon so it was actually fairly easy to deduce his hiding spot. Of course, Onee-san saw it as well, didn't you? As expected of vampire lineage."

The girl had a giant smile plastered to her face as she boasted about how superior they were, but quickly sobered up.

"In any event, if it turned out we were somehow wrong, this whole situation may very well reacquaint Onee-san with her other self, the environment and mood forcing her to think and act more like she should."

"This isn't what we discussed this morning, Ginger."

Kokoa once again growled, but supposed it was better than being called 'runt' all the time instead.

"As I said, I would do it your way until a better opportunity came around. Guess what: it's here."

Moka was a bit confused about what the two were discussing, but ignored it in order to better stay on guard and keep the lantern steady. It was then that the group once again relapsed into silence as they considered exploring the ruins.

Suddenly, the bat flew up into the air and began beating its wings rapidly as they approached an intersection, prompting Kokoa to say, "Ko-chan senses something. Turn off the light."

Turning to Zetsu, Naruto saw him nod, making him believe Kokoa's warning was all the more credible.

"He must be coming down the hall," the ginger said as everyone leaned up against the adjacent wall, making it so they wouldn't be seen. Sure enough, distant, echoing footsteps could soon be heard. Upon silent command, Kokoa had her pet morph into a giant, spiked club, which she quickly handed off to Moka, the closest one to the edge.

Shocked by the weight at first, the girl quickly took it up, and sent a confused, worried glance to her sister, which prompted a whisper.

"When he comes around the corner, you hit him. We'll support you if the need arises."

The elder one of the siblings still didn't seem too sure, but was prepared all the same. Slowly, all too slowly, the footstep came louder and more frequently, until a shadow stretched into view. Moka tensed, counting the seconds until she swung, and just as she was about to go all out, Zetsu decided to interject.

"You may want to hold off on that plan."

"Why?" asked Kokoa, her voice vehement, though it succeeded in its objective of stopping Moka, allowing the figure to pass fully into their line of sight. It was, of course, Tsukune, who jumped back, frightened at seeing four figures hiding behind a wall, the lead one with a giant weapon held above their head, poised to strike him down.

It took a bit before they managed to calm him, the human finally recognizing who it was, at which point Naruto promptly asked, "Where are the others? How did you get here before them?"

"Well, Yukari, Hotaru, and I all got here at the same time, but got separated from each other once we got inside," he started, nervous. "As for Kurumu and Mizore, I have no idea."

"Shit. Zetsu, think you can sense them out?"

The giant shook his head. "There is a thick layer of darkness and foreboding covering the whole area. I can barely sense anything as it is, and was only able to keep Moka from maiming Tsukune because of his proximity."

"Great, so we have a liability stuck with us that in turn makes Onee-san a liability, too week to assert herself, and now have to worry about four others, further bringing us down. Just bloody brilliant, that."

Whilst the ginger was busy whinging, she failed to notice the large presence behind her, as did most people, except for Tsukune, who saw something in the dim lighting. Acting on instinct, he pushed the girl out of the way, prompting a yell right before a giant fist smashed into him, which would have sent him flying had not Naruto intercepted his flight path, catching him and placing him of two feet.

"Zetsu! A little warning would help!"

"I can't. He blends right in with the atmosphere."

This little display caused a chuckle, snapping everyone's attention to the figure of their assailant. Most were caught off guard by the large form, a muscular and hairy torso, flexing with power, coupled with a demonic bull head, sharp, protruding horns and teeth on prominent display along with two, beady read eyes the gave off a faint glow. To top it off, he had on a pair of jeans and chaps for some reason, a machete in a holster on his waist. All in all, it made Naruto chuckle.

"Well, well, well, aren't you a large fella'?"

As he said that, he crouched down in a fighting style, one hand in front of him, pointed at the opponent, the other near his waist. It elicited a rumbling laugh from the beast as it charged at high speeds toward him, though the blonde was easily able to keep up, much to the surprise of the beast.

As the two fought it out, Naruto failed to notice that Kokoa was still in shock from being saved, by someone she thought useless, no less, while Tsukune was still in pain from the hit, Moka worrying about them both as Zetsu tried to stay on guard.

It wasn't long before another man, with unkempt hair and a sickly visage appeared, knife in hand and wearing a black and white striped shirt, walking up behind Moka and saying, "Oh good, a woman. I'll be taking care of you personally," before knocking her out with a strike to the back of the head. Caught off guard by this, he was blasted through a wall by minotaur, rubble covering him, for all intents and purposes making him dead to the world. A stray piece of concrete flew from the blast and knocked Tsukune in the head, knocking him out and allowing the newcomer to scoop him up as he held Moka over his shoulder.

Looking around, frightened by what had happened in the last few moments, Kokoa noticed she was alone, Zetsu having left sometime without anyone noticing, leaving the two criminals to leer down ad her.

"Looks like you're all alone, little girl," said the one with the knife before turning to what seemed to be his minion. "Take care of her," was all he said before turning and walking away with Tsukune and Moka.

The beast grinned, drawing its weapon as it stalked towards her. Tears welled up in the girl's eyes, wondering how things had gone so wrong. She had just wanted her old sister back, the beautiful and powerful sister she prided herself into hopefully becoming like. Now here she was, alone, having her sister once again taken and about to die, pathetic. And she realized... she was no better than the ones she had ridiculed. And she didn't know if she wanted to live with that.

But, as the beast got in closer, she steeled her resolve. She wasn't injured. She could still fight, and didn't see why she couldn't. She was a vampire, and knew she would rather die fighting than simply letting it happen.

As determination grew bright in her eyes, she banished her tears and put on a vengeful face, summoning her pet to her and transforming it into a blade, capable of taking on the beast in front of her. She would save her sister and show her what it meant to be a true vampire, and would not be stopped.

Except she was stopped, both by the arrival of three more people and the pile of rubble Naruto was under exploding outward, freeing the obviously pissed blond and halting the surprised minotaur. The only thing that stopped the angry man from ripping the beast's head of was seeing who had just showed up.

"Looks like we got here just in time," said Kurumu, being led by Zetsu, Mizore at her side. Realizing Zetsu was the one who found them, Naruto immediately demanded an explanation.

"I thought you couldn't find shit here! What the hell?"

"Well, I detected the faintest signature, and since it wasn't obscured by darkness. I figured it was worth a shot."

"And we know how both Moka and Tsukune were captured," interjected Mizore, "Thanks to this thing distracting and temporarily incapacitating you."

"We'll take it from here," said Kurumu, both her and Mizore partially reverting to their monster forms and standing side-by-side, ready to attack.

This got an indignant response from Kokoa, who stated, "Back off, he's mine!" even if she was still just a bit afraid and unsure.

Of course that got Naruto to pipe in with, "The hell he is! He knocked me through a fucking wall! I get first crack at him!"

"You had your chance! It's my turn!" Kokoa fiercely replied.

"You both had ample time," interrupted Kurumu. "Let us have a go!"

Both Zetsu and the beast watched the three-way exchange, the latter more confused than anything, before they finally decided to play roco-paper-scissors for it. Gathering in a circle, all four played, Naruto and Kokoa throwing rock while Mizore threw scissors and Kurumu paper.

"We win," announced Kurumu, which only led to Kokoa and Naruto demanding how. "Paper covers rock."

"But scissors cuts paper!" Kokoa pointed out.

"Yeah, but Mizore and I are on a team, so even though she defeats me, we still win."

And before any more retorts could be made, the duo stepped out in front of the beast, causing it to grin at finally having an opponent. A grin on his face, he swung wildly, and was easily dodged by both girls, before they struck out together, sending the beast flying and cracking the ground in an amazing feat of power, leaving the spectators awed.

"When the hell did you learn that?" demanded Naruto as he approached them, embracing his girlfriend with a big smile on his face, proud for her.

"Over the break, we got Gin-sempai to train us. He's actually a good teacher."

Kurumu scoffed at that. "For you, maybe, but he was constantly groping me. The only reason you were spared was because he knew Naruto would kill him."

With that, the blue-haired girl turned to Kokoa and regarded her in terms to her previous superiority.

"I hope that proves to you vampires aren't the only strong monsters."

"Whatever, we need to go rescue Onee-san now."

With that, the ginger marched on ahead, picking up the forgotten lantern and going down the path she saw the other criminal take. With not much left to do, the others followed. As they walked, Naruto turned to Zetsu and asked, think you can keep an eye out for Moka's and Tsukune's signatures. It will lead us to the criminals."

"What about Hotaru and Yukari?" he asked.

"Yeah, them too. They may have been taken for all we know."

"So you didn't come across them?" asked Mizore, which received a shake of the head. Unbeknownst to them, the group was being monitored by a shikigami, meaning that their progress was being tracked, and the enemy could keep track of them. However, Naruto couldn't help but feel they were being watched.

Looking around, though making sure not to draw attention to himself, he soon saw it, knowing what it is and what it could do since Kiria had explained it to him the previous year. Palming a kunai, the blond slowed so he was at the back of the party, flicking his wrist and hitting the creature directly in the eye, killing it and watching as it silently fell to the ground. He didn't bother telling the others, though. He didn't need them getting riled up.

However, as they continued walking, they soon came to a stop at Kokoa's, "What the hell?" statement. Closing in, the group came across a sight that caused the blond's heart to drop. It was, of course, the dead shikigami laying in the middle of the path, kunai still embedded in it. Immediately, both Zetsu and Mizore rounded on Naruto, causing him to blanch.

"How long ago?" asked Zetsu.

"About five minutes."

"Wait, what's going on? What is that thing,"asked Kurumu, obviously confused about what it had to do with the dead creature in front of them.

Casually, Naruto crouched down and removed his kunai with a sickening squelch, returning it to his hidden holster. "That, is a shikigami, a monster which can transmit whatever it sees to it's counterpart, which can project the image to whoever the owner is. It was spying on us, so I killed it a ways back, meaning..."

"That you were leading us in circles," finished the succubus, rounding on the surprised ginger. "I knew that we shouldn't have followed you."

"Oh, like you would have lead us anywhere else! Following you, we would have been hopelessly lost! At least now we know to take a different route!"

"Why you little..." just as the two were about two fight, someone made themselves known.

"Guy's there's no need for fighting!" everyone turned to the source, and saw an indistinguishable figure, though the voice sounded familiar.

"Tsukune-kun? Is that you?" asked Kurumu as Kokoa turned the lantern onto him, revealing Tsukune's features. However, even though it was hard to see him fully, Naruto sensed something was off about him. He also noticed a strange smell in the air.

"Of course it's me."

"How did you escape?"

"I managed to beat up the criminals, of course!"

"Where's Onee-san?" asked Kokoa, a threatening edge in her voice, though maybe it was just to hide the worry.

Tsukune's expression suddenly morphed to one of urgency, as he quickly turned. "That's right, she was injured! Come on, she needs help!"

"What?" asked Kokoa, already racing ahead of Tsukune, not noticing as he palmed a knife, ready to stab her. That's when Naruto realized the scent. Tobacco. The smell lingered around the man, like a cloud that was following him. Since when did Tsukune smoke? And he was wearing different clothes. He should have been more worried about Moka. And he remembered before he was covered by rubble a piece of concrete had hit Tsukune it the head. Where were the signs of the wound?

"That's not Tsukune," Naruto said, catching everyone's attention. However, before anyone could react, the imposter thrust foreward, intent on killing at least one of them first, namely Kokoa.

Before he could succeed, though, a dark figure rushed past everyone and planted their foot into the back of the fake's head, sending him flying. Everyone got on guard, unsure if this person was a friend or foe. The rough, familiar voice put them at ease, though.

"I'm ashamed, Aono-san. Only pussies smoke menthol. You okay, kid?"

Kokoa could only stare up at the scarred face of Konjyoyaki, barely able to conceive that he had saved her, before she remembered him. "You're Amami-sensei, right?"

All she got was a nod before he ushered her behind him. "Sendo and Tenka are on the surface with Ruby," he said. "You guys might want up with them."

"But what about Tsukune-kun and Moka-san?" asked Kurumu.

"Look, I don't give a shit what you do, but don't blame me if you get injured."

His voice then became even more serious, if that was at all possible.

"However, I claim this guy."

That statement was met with a chuckle, as the faux-Tsukune stepped back into view. "Well, isn't that touching? Coming back to me, eh, _Konjyoyaki-sama_?" the title was obviously used with a mocking intent, and caused the man to narrow his eyes.

"Do I know you?"

"And what was that? Amami-sensei? I guess he really was important to you."

The others just watched with confusion, though Konjyoyaki growled at the man who was taunting him, bringing up memories he would rather forget. "Who are you?"

"I'm hurt that you don't remember," the imposter said, playing around by inflecting his voice to match what he said. He then reached behind his back, taking something he had hidden. "You know, I kept this on the off-chance that we would meet again. Turns out it came in handy."

And as he said that, he revealed a blank, white mask, the sight of which made Konjyoyaki take an involuntary step back, before he reaffirmed himself. "You..."

The man chuckled, donning the mask and changing his voice. "Konjyoyaki-sama? Are you hurt? What happened to your arm and eye? Oh, right, you blew your own arm off, and I'm responsible for cutting your eye out, aren't I?" at the end, malicious glee was evident in his voice.

"You're the one who killed Taiki..." was all he said. It was met with a chuckle. "You were the last one to see my students. Where are they?"

Although Konjyoyaki's voice was calm and steady, Naruto could see right through the facade, and cautiously approached his mentor. "Hey, Kon?"

"Stay back, Uzumaki!" he snapped, causing the others to jump, but the imposter to raise his eyebrow in wonder, though it was unseen to the others.

"Uzumaki? As in Uzumaki Naruto?"

The man turned his head towards the boy, before laughing.

"I thought you looked familiar! You're the Jashinist man from Kohona, aren't you? What a coincidence!"

An insane laugh followed, as Naruto looked worriedly to Konjyoyaki. "What's going on?" the uncertainty shown through in his voice.

"Uzumaki, whatever you do, don't let that guy touch your face," as Konjyoyaki said that, a blade of ice formed in his hand, ready to strike the criminal down.

"I wonder," he continued, almost to himself, "do your _friends_ know the price you paid for your immortality?"

The statement managed to nearly push the blond off the edge, causing him to wonder just how much this guy knew about him. It also served to confuse those who weren't former affiliates of a criminal organization, as they turned to Naruto, wanting to know just how much more he was hiding from them.

" I wonder if it's transferable," the screwy man continued. "Don't get me wrong, Konjyoyaki-sama, I still want your power, even if it doesn't hold the weight it once did, but eternal life is just _so_ much more... _enticing_."

And with that, he rushed toward the blond, only to reach a full stop just as quickly and jump back and Konjyoyaki got in front of him and made a stab, missing, if only just.

"I see despite your infirmity your skills have refused to dull."

"Sod off," was the reply as Konjyoyaki chucked his blade at the enemy like a spear. The masked man managed to dodge, but only to receive a fist to the gut for his trouble as he was rushed by the man in white.

The man attempted a stab back in return, but was too slow as Konjyoyaki dodged back. However, he still grinned, noticing the state the man was in. Rivulets if sweat ran down from his brow, and his breathing was ragged as he struggled on to hunch over, forming another blade.

"The air down here isn't ideal for brawling, is it? Especially for one with a limited lung capacity such as yourself, eh?"

"Shut your tra-..." the man began through his wheezing, before breaking off into a coughing fit, nearly collapsing to one knee as he did so. Only the one-eyed man could see the flecks of blood mixed in with spittle.

Worrying for the man, Naruto rushed foreward, unsealing his own blade as the criminal charged against the temporarily defenseless man. The blond was easily able to deflect the knife and repel the enemy, but pushed the offensive, sending his sword after him and forcing the criminal to either keep dodging or be impaled.

It came as a surprise, then, when Konjyoyaki kicked the person aiding him away, straightening up as he did so. "This is my battle, Uzumaki. Stay out of it!"

"The hell you doing?" was the shouted reply as the blond got up. "You can barely stand!"

"He's right. You should let him help," was the snarky comment coming from his opponent. "Even if you were the jammiest bastard alive, you condition makes you hard-pressed to beat me."

He began laughing, as if he had told a joke, but stopped quickly, and Konjyoyaki could just sense the mirthful smirk on his face.

"Oh, and it appears we have company."

As he said that, a wall was busted down, sending dust up into the air, both decreasing visibility and making it harder to breathe. As it settled, it revealed Tsukune, pronounced demonic attributes about him. An apathetic and blood-thirsty gaze fixed on everyone in the room, causing various reactions. Behind him, a voice could be heard shouting, "Tsukune-kun!" in a frantic voice, presumably Moka.

This clearly wasn't what the criminal expected, as he stumble back, most likely from a mixture of shock and the power the teen was exuding. "That's not Kumocchi. What the hell?"

Everyone but him and Kokoa knew, of course, that this was the effect of Moka's vampiric blood coursing through his veins, turning him closer to the point of no return by the minute. The Holy Lock was the only thing keeping him from turning into a ghoul at that moment, and it had it's limits. Something blatantly obvious to those who knew.

It was then that Tsukune stepped in the middle of a front, and charged blindly at the criminal, much to the ire of Konjyoyaki, though the others had mixed reactions, ranging from impressed at his ability, to worried for his well-being.

To the criminal's defense, he managed to dodge the first few strikes, before being caught off-guard and blasted away. He was still focused on his opponent, however, so he had no reason to prepare for Konjyoyaki smashing his head through a wall and repeatedly into the floor until Tsukune had blacked-out, the infirm man's patience obviously worn all too thin.

While some gasped at this brutality, tears in the eyes of both Moka and Kurumu, they only felt worse as Konjyoyaki lifted the unconscious boy by his head and flung him back at the feet of Zetsu, with the command of, "Transport him and any who wish to leave back to the surface, then escort them to the medical facilities."

There was a nod as Zetsu lifted the boy's body and instructed those wanting to leave to grab on to his shoulders. Kurumu sent a hateful glare at the man's back before being whisked away along with Moka, leaving only Naruto, Mizore, and Kokoa as witnesses. While the blond wondered why the ginger had chosen to stay, he realized it would be more fitting to ask later.

Which turned out to be a good idea, as while everyone was busy, the criminal had regained his bearing, and saw his opportunity to strike, dashing as fast as he could to Naruto's position, hand outstretched.

Taken aback by this sudden action, the blond couldn't even put up a meager defense. He didn't expect to be shoved out of the way by a large cripple, who promptly took his place.

From his position on the ground, Naruto saw the hand latch onto Konjyoyaki's pissed face, who sent a glare at the blond, before trying to get away. It didn't work, as the shape-shifter just became taller, and his outward appearance came to match that of Konjyoyaki;s, with the exception that the criminal wasn't wearing white and still had all his appendages, including his right eye as revealed when her removed the mask.

"Not exactly the body I was aiming for," the criminal said, joy in his voice, "but not half bad."

"I see you didn't copy it exactly," the real Konjyoyaki said cautiously, backing away, a serious and apprehensive look on his face, which received a laugh.

"No, I took the liberty to fix you deformations, including swapping your lungs in favor of my own. In essence, with your abilities, I am even more powerful than you."

"To what extent do your powers copy someone, exactly?" asked Konjyoyaki, motioning the others behind him, trying to keep his face blank. He couldn't afford to show any emotions, but he also wanted everyone out of the way.

"For all intents and purposes, I am a copy of you. Physical traits, personality, knowledge, I have it all, along with my own abilities," said the imposter, clenching his fist to get a feel for the new body. He also grinned, taking Konjyoyaki's expressionless face as a means to hide his fear. "I'll go through the memories later, though."

"I see."

Despite the situation, the cripple found time to replace his burnt-out cigarette for a new one as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Tell me, how long has it been since you've had a smoke?"

"Why?" he asked, a bit cautious at just how well Konjyoyaki was hiding his emotions.

"It's been at _least_ five minutes, wouldn't you say?"

A pause.

"Tell me, are you a bit chilly?"

"What are you going on about? Are you daft? So what if I'm cold? It only makes your powers stronger!"

It was at that moment that the imposter noticed that he could see his breath, and that he was starting to shiver from how cold it was becoming? How had the temperature dropped so suddenly without him noticing. Then he saw the others were unaffected by the same ailments.

Finally, Konjyoyaki grinned. "What you say is true, but you're not used to the body. You don't know the drawbacks."

The imposter was about to shout, demand he explain what the bloody hell he was talking about, but was suddenly overcome by an excruciating pain, making him feel as if his head was splitting open, causing him to fall to his knees. That was the moment he had been waiting for.

Before anyone could blink, Konjyoyaki sprinted foreward, sword at his side as he passed by the doppelganger, lopping off his head as he went, causing it to roll on the floor as the body fell over limply. The blade disappeared shortly thereafter as the teacher turned to regard it.

Cautious at first, Naruto and the others approached, the blond asking, "What happened to him?"

"Fool became over confident and didn't know how to properly maintain my body. While what he said was true, that my abilities thrive in the cold, he failed to regulate his body's temperature, inflicting a great deal of stress onto it. As such he left himself open."

"Before the fight, you said something about a 'Taiki' which this guy killed, and was apparently close to you. Are you okay?"

"Taiki was a friend, and the man who killed him is dead. Truthfully, it's a load off my shoulders knowing that he is dead. Still, it's worrying to know this was the man my students were last with, and I have no idea what became of them" he said, pausing for a brief moment. "Go back to the surface, I want a minute to clean up."

Slowly, the students left the man, who just kept staring at the dead body of himself, which was actually pretty creepy, if Naruto was honest with himself. They each spared a glance back as the motionless man before rounding a corner.

Sure that they could no longer see him, Konjyoyaki knelt down to the body, picking up the discarded mask beside it. He looked at it long and hard, keeping a stoic visage, not letting his guard down, even if to just let a lone tear roll down his cheek for a long gone friend. Instead, he simply pocketed the mask, before reexamining the body, and beginning to meddle with it.

(End):

So, there are a few other concerns I want to address. They are as follows:


	21. Pride, Anger, and Regret

Hey. So, yeah, this is out late. A full two months behind schedule. Why? Because I had a plan for this chapter, and refused to stop at opportune times in favor of writing it out fully. As a result, this chapter is over 17,000 words. Goddamn it! I said I wouldn't be writing that much any time soon, and this is why. Lykaos deserves many praise for this, both for putting up with how long this took me, and going over the unedited version. I'm sure there are still errors, but this was a lot of content to go through, not all of it exciting. But I'm rambling now, so let's just get to it.

/

Chapter 21: Pride, Anger, and Regret

(Outside the Dungeon):

Whilst Konjyoyaki was preoccupied doing who knows what with his enemies body, Naruto, Kokoa, and Mizore made their way to the surface and began their trek to the infirmary to meet up with the others. There was a shared silence between the three, as they each reflected on what had happened.

Naruto, who knew the man better than the others (though that wasn't saying much), was surprised that he was actually capable of caring for another person. In fact, if he hadn't seen how distraught the man had seemed when realizing he was facing off with this 'Taiki's' killer, Naruto wouldn't have believed it. He also seemed rightfully upset that the only connection to his students was now gone. It was... strange seeing the man worry for the safety of others. While it was true that he _probably_ also cared somewhat for the blond himself, it was only because Naruto could help Konjyoyaki achieve his goal of killing N for whatever reason he may want the man dead.

Mizore, though, only really knew the man as a teacher, and not as a manipulative asshole like her boyfriend did. Therefore, she wasn't as overtaken by the concern he showed for his friends, despite what Naruto had told her about his apparent self-serving nature, but was instead concerned with his merciless nature. As a teacher, he really didn't care if his students passed or not, leaving it up to those who fell behind in his lessons to figure it out for themselves, but she never thought he had such blatant disregard for a student's physical well-being. The way he had manhandled Tsukune was... frightening, to say the least, and while it was true that at the time Tsukune was a danger to everyone including himself, the girl couldn't help but think Konjyoyaki had beaten him just so the boy wouldn't get in the way of his fight.

Kokoa, though, had absolutely no experience with the man, thus didn't know what to think of what she had seen. Was he normally the one to jump into situations like that? Was it surprising to see him beat a student like that? Wasn't he a teacher? Speaking of which, what was wrong with the boy he beat? From what she had seen so far, Tsukune was a wimp, so how had he knocked down that wall? Why did he charge the criminal? It was confusing.

Instead of trying to work it out herself, she turned to the people she was beginning to consider friends and asked, "Hey, what happened back there? That Amami-sensei, is he normally like that?"

Naruto and Mizore shared a glance, having not really expected the girl to break the silence, though not particularly surprised by it either, and not really knowing how to answer. Regardless, Naruto soon came up with an answer.

"All you need to know about Konjyoyaki is that you shouldn't trust him. As a teacher, he knows what he's talking about. As a person, if you aren't even somewhat useful to one of his schemes, you're seen as collateral at best. He usually doesn't meddle in our affairs, I'm not even quite sure what he was doing there, but as you've seen, he's dangerous, and he'll pretty much get whatever it is he wants. You'd do best not to cross him."

Kokoa was a bit surprised that the person she actually was afraid of was saying someone else was dangerous. She had seen Naruto jump in to help Konjyoyaki, and the blond had seemed perfectly capable of taking the criminal on before being told to stay out of the conflict. So, why did he seem to be slightly cautious of the man?

"Dangerous? The man could barely stand halfway through that battle. Sure, he seems competent enough, he is ruthless from what I've seen, but he's also crippled in more ways than one."

"Don't be a fool," Naruto warned, a bit annoyed at how ignorant Kokoa was being. "True, years of chain smoking have pretty much destroyed Konjyoyaki's lungs, but not his mind. If you underestimate him, he won't tire out by virtue of him taking advantage of your ignorance. And he will play tricks on you in battle if you let him just to make it that much simpler."

"Whatever," the ginger replied, not really able to take Naruto seriously, but keeping what he had told her in mind.

"I still don't see why you hate him do much," replied Mizore, drawing Naruto's attention back to her. "I mean, yes, you have a past history with him, but I haven't really seen him be manipulative. Brutal, yes, but he also seemed stressed during that fight, so I'm willing to attribute his beating of Tsukune-san to that. Besides, didn't he train you during our absence?"

"True," Naruto shrugged, "but it was to further his own means. As for stress, yeah, it was clear he wasn't totally in it, but he still would have dealt with Tsukune on a normal day, albeit more efficiently."

"Speaking of which," Kokoa interjected, once again drawing all attention to herself, "what happened to him? Onee-san seemed worried for him, and the power I felt coming off of him felt... wrong. He also busted though a wall, which doesn't seem right. What kind of monster is he?"

Naruto had a good laugh at that, even if it did bring up bad memories of how he had hurt Mizore, as someone thinking Tsukune was any kind of monster was laughable to the blond. He sobered up though, as the story was a serious one, though a small smile stayed on his face. "Here's the thing; the reason Tsukune was like that was because last summer..."

He was stopped form continuing as Mizore jabbed him in the ribs. She knew where he was going with the story and during his pause, she supplemented with, "It's against school policy to reveal one's true form to other students or faculty."

Kokoa looked suspiciously at the two for a moment. She saw as Naruto shot Mizore a questioning glance and how she just shook her head in return. "That's not the problem is here, though," she concluded, eyes narrowed. "I have a feeling fighting is against school policy, yet apparently your group all has experience with it, enough that members of the faculty would ask for your help in finding a criminal. No, there's another reason why you won't let him continue."

Naruto was also a bit confused. Sure, telling his story may or may not reveal Tsukune was human... well, was once human, but he was technically somewhere in between there and ghoul now, so it shouldn't have been much of a problem. What was the reason then?

"Maybe it would be best for Moka-chan to tell you," Mizore finally suggested, further confusing Naruto. He was definitely missing something here, and he wanted to know what.

However, it seemed that Mizore's answer had succeeded in placating Kokoa for the time being, and as such, she soon took charge in leading them to the infirmary. This let the couple fall back and have a private discussion.

Dropping his voice to a low whisper, Naruto asked, "What was that about? Why would Moka be a better choice for telling her about Tsukune?"

"You don't know much about the culture of various races. As I'm sure you can tell, vampires are particularly prideful, and one of the reasons behind that is their pure-blood nature. They see the mingling of blood with other races as a great offense. That includes a vampire giving someone their blood."

Realization dawned on the blond. "So by saving Tsukune's life the way she did, Moka disgraced her family?"

"Not just her family, but her entire race. And, given Kokoa's obsession to see her 'Onee-sama' returned to full glory, you can see the problem with this."

"Wait, then why did you tell her that Moka could give her answers? Won't that just make it harder on them both?"

"Sorry, but I was too busy making sure you didn't ruin their relationship to really think the whole thing through," Mizore shot back.

"Then we need to think of something to make her forget about the whole thing, at least temporarily."

"Do you have any ideas?" Mizore asked, a bit worried as they came ever closer to the infirmary. Looking around, the blond kept an eye out for something, anything that could slow them down and give them more time to plan. That's when he noticed Kokoa seemed to be walking slower, almost as if trying to concentrate on something. That's when it hit him. The ginger discovered that they were whispering, but probably couldn't make out what they were actually saying.

Turning back to Mizore, he mouthed, 'Follow my lead,' to her, receiving a nod before continuing in a louder whisper than they had been using, sounding a bit annoyed, saying, "Why won't you just let me tell her?"

Mizore followed suite, replying, "I told you, this has to do with vampire tradition."

"Like I care," scoffed Naruto, letting a small grin slip onto his face. "She obviously loves him, why shouldn't they get married?"

By now, it was clear Kokoa was paying full attention to them, straining to hear all that the two were saying. And by now, Mizore had a semblance of an idea where Naruto was going with his plan.

"Well it's not going to be made any easier for them if the truth comes out. I told you, vampires are very prideful, and marriage between them and anything but another vampire is usually out of the question, as is the case with most monsters. Even then, some exceptions can be made if it's a union between two strong species to strengthen both families, though that's rare. But marriage between Moka and Tsukune would be unheard of."

"Why, because Tsukune is a boundary being?"

"Aha!"

The sudden shout drew the couple's attention to Kokoa, who had spun around to face them. Both had to withhold satisfied grins at the girl's triumphant smirk.

"So that boy is some sort of boundary being? Probably some sort of telekinetic or something. Unacceptable! Onee-sama will never be married to such a lower class being! I will not allow her honor to be ruined in such a fashion!"

"But wait," Naruto half-heartedly protested, mentally beaming because his plan had worked, "they both share feelings for each other. Isn't that what really matters?"

"No, such a thought is out of the question," Kokoa retorted, putting on an annoyed face at such a notion. "Besides, Onee-sama could never actually love such a weakling. It must be the rosary messing with her head. I have to find a way to remove it, and fast."

With that, Kokoa sped off towards the infirmary, leaving, Mizore and Naruto behind to finally let out their laughter.

"Wow, I can't believe she actually believed us," said the blond. "You were great."

"It was all your plan, though," she replied, turning to him and placing a gentle kiss on his lips, causing a large smile to form on his face.

"Yeah, I'm great too. Together, though, we're awesome."

"I have to wonder, though," she continued, stifling a chuckle at Naruto's antics, "won't Kokoa's meddling get in the way of their time together?"

"Not anymore than the meddling of the others," Naruto shrugged. "Besides, we can keep her occupied some of the time. Speaking of which, we should probably catch up to make sure she doesn't injure Tsukune anymore than he already is."

Then,without warning, the blond swept Mizore off of her feet, eliciting a small gasp from her before he ran to catch up with the young vampire.

/

(Infirmary: Tsukune's Room):

Naruto was easily able to catch up with Kokoa and 'escort' her to the room, making sure she wasn't about to just bash through the door and assault Tsukune when Mizore asked the receptionist where he was. It also meant that he held her back when they did get to the room and tried attacking the surprised boy. In the end, he handed her off to Zetsu, who just held her up by the scruff of her blouse as she demanded to be put down, kicking and flailing her arms all the while.

"What's going on?" asked Tsukune from his bed, eying the girl. He was heavily bandaged, Naruto noticed, including having some gauze wrapped around his head and his arm in a sling. The blond would later learn that along with the lacerations, Tsukune had received a concussion and sprained his arm, which was pretty good all things considered.

"Not much," replied Naruto, approaching him and the girls crowded around his bed with Mizore at his side, "the runt just thinks you're some kind of boundary being who wants to marry her sister."

"What?"was Tsukune's reply, caught between embarrassment at being told someone thought he wanted to marry Moka (who was also flushed with embarrassment), and fear at being told the same person probably wanted to kill him and thought he was probably more powerful than he really was.

"And why does she think that?" asked Kurumu, becoming angrier than she probably was previously at seeing the reactions of Tsukune and Moka.

"We... may have told her," the blond supplied, rubbing the back of his neck with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Why would you do that?" cried Tsukune, violently sitting up and cringing at moving too fast before being eased back down by Moka, who reiterated the question.

"What reason could their have been to tell her such a thing?"

"Hey, she was asking questions about what she saw back there, and it was better than the alternative of telling her the truth."

"Basically it's the difference between her wanting to kill you and just maiming you," Mizore supplied.

"That's not helpful," Tsukune whined.

"What's with you?" asked Naruto, becoming annoyed. "I figured you'd be happy with not being dead. I don't remember you bitching this much last year."

"Wait, I'm confused with what's going on," Hotaru said. "Why would you need to tell Kokoa-chan that Tsukune-san was a boundary being if he's not?"

Yukari helpfully pulled the girl aside to explain the events of the previous summer as the main conversation continued, this time with Ruby asking a question.

"So what exactly happened down in that dungeon. Apparently Konjyoyaki-san attacked Tsukune-san after he went into his ghoul form? Then what? Where is he now?"

"Who cares?" asked Kurumu, clearly still mad with the man. "What he did to Tsukune-kun was over the line. He didn't deserve that."

"You're rather ungrateful to someone who saved your friend's ass, you know that?"

Everyone turned to the source of the voice to see Konjyoyaki limping into the room, clearly tired form his fight.

"You," Kurumu growled out, storming up to the man as he leaned himself back against a wall for support. The man eyed her dispassionately.

"And for someone who initially just wanted a scoop for your paper about the criminals, you're lucky your club president was there to snap some pictures as the surviving criminals were carted away."

Most people caught the word 'surviving', leading them to instantly regard the man with trepidation, but Kurumu wasn't one of those people. Instead she forcefully grabbed the man by the front of his jacket and pointed to Tsukune.

"Look at what you did to him! What would possess you to do that? What makes you think you can just waltz in here and-..."

She was cut off as Konjyoyaki puffed on his cigarette and then blew smoke in her face nonchalantly, sending Kurumu into a coughing fit, the smoke making her eyes water. Regaining her breath soon after, and now fully enraged, she pulled back, ready to punch him in his smug face, before she was pulled back by Moka.

"Come on, Kurumu-chan. I need to go calm Kokoa down, and I could use some help."

The blue-haired girl looked at Moka, seeing that she was clearly worried. Surveying everyone else in the room, she could see they were also worried for her safety, several ready to intervene if need be. Finally, she cast a glance over to Kokoa, who was still flailing in the air and who had apparently missed all of the last five minutes, before sighing and letting the cripple go, dragging her friend behind her to retrieve Kokoa and finally leaving, sending a nasty glare behind her at Konjyoyaki as she went.

There was a moment of silence after the three had left, as everyone just stared at Konjyoyaki. They were surprised by his recent actions; even Naruto and Zetsu were caught off-guard. They knew how disagreeable the man could be, but it was unheard of for him to act in such a manner around others, going so far as to intentionally provoke someone who was rightfully upset.

It was Ruby who stepped up and confronted him on his actions, asking, "Are you okay, Konjyoyaki-san? What happened in that dungeon?"

"Not much. Dealt with some issues from my past, killed a guy, relieved some stress, then got rid of an annoyance as soon as I got here. A good day, all in all."

Again, quite a few people were surprised, this time with how the man had so easily talked about killing a man. They had thought he was just a teacher, one who had taught at an academy full of monsters, yes, but he was still just a teacher. The past issues he had talked about were also something most people could only wonder about.

"I-... I wanted to thank you."

The silence was once again broken, and this time all attention was turned to Tsukune. The boy's head was down, and he balling the sheets with his one good hand hard enough to make his arm tremble.

"You stopped me from going on a rampage. I couldn't control the power, and who knows what might have happened if you didn't stop me? I know most people may not understand that and be angry with you, so I guess I'm sorry for that too. I just want you know to appreciate what you did."

Although, Tsukune couldn't see it, as he continued to speak, Konjyoyaki appeared more and more annoyed, up to the point of actual anger once the boy had finished. "If you want to thank me, don't waste time with pointless, drawn out apologies, and rationalizing by placing the majority of the blame on yourself. You can't truly think yourself so important that you believe everything is somehow your responsibility."

"But I-..." Tsukune began, looking up in surprise at the man's words.

"No, instead of doing everything I just told you not to, stop being some damned bleeding-heart messiah figure and think of what you need to do to control your power so someone doesn't need to step in again."

Tsukune looked down once again, unsure of how to feel with what the cripple had to say to him. Yukari wasn't going to have any of it, though.

"Why did you come here anyway?" she asked. "If it wasn't to apologize or receive thanks, then what? Or do you just like being a jackass and shooting down whoever you can?"

"I came by to make sure I didn't kill the little dumbass and, provided he was still alive, make sure he wasn't being a whiny little bitch. I swear, self-sacrificing types like him are the worst, constantly needing to be set straight. Besides, shouldn't you be getting back to your club activities or something? Registration is in a few days; you should be planning accordingly."

"Come now, I'm sure that their club leader doesn't mind too much. Besides, don't we still have some preparations to make?" chastised Ruby, causing Konjyoyaki to grunt before the two of them left. With the six of them left, things grew quiet once again. Nothing to talk about came to mind, and Tsukune still seemed to be contemplating what Konjyoyaki had said.

Eventually, Naruto did speak up, suggesting, "Come on, Tsukune probably should get some sleep, and Gin is useless without us. We should go."

"But Tsukune-san has a concussion. Sleeping is the last thing he should do," Hotaru argued.

"That's besides the point. He clearly has some thinking to do," the blond continued, walking to the door, followed by Zetsu. "Let's leave him be for now. We can visit him later."

With that, the two of them were gone, Mizore, Yukari, and Hotaru following shortly after them once they bid Tsukune a goodbye. He didn't respond, choosing instead to reflect on everything that had happened recently.

/

(Two Days Later):

The room that housed the newspaper club was in a festive mood. Having spent the previous day writing up the article on the Slasher and his gang hiding out in the dungeon, along with finishing up a few miscellaneous columns, they had completed the first paper of the school year. Gin, of course, took credit for the front page story, having taken the pictures of the criminals being carted away, even though he knew that it was due to the efforts of the others that they were apprehended in the first place.

"So we're going to give these out later today when we scout for potential members, right?" asked Hotaru, leaning back in her seat, taking a sip from her drink can.

"That's the plan," Yukari answered her. "This should get us some good publicity with the freshmen."

"Yeah, you guys did great," Tsukune said, a smile on his face. He had been released from the medical facility, under the directive that he didn't get into any overly stressful situations, as his body was still weak from the beating he had received. He was told that he may experience bouts of vertigo, and that if it got too bad, to return to the medical office. He also had to keep his arm in a sling and splint for two weeks, which was an inconvenience, but not a terribly detrimental one.

"What do you mean? We all played an equal part in putting this paper together."

And with that, Kurumu began to smother the boy with her large assets, apparently not understanding the 'minimize stress' directive.

Naruto just stared at the spectacle, knowing the routine to a fault at that point. After that, Kurumu, Yukari, and Moka would get into a small scuffle. Tsukune would try to stop them. They would fawn over him. Something would interrupt them. Knowing that, he wasn't too engaged with what was actually happening, and instead focused on Tsukune. There was something off about him. Maybe the concussion had affected his mental state,but more likely than not, Konjyoyaki's reprimand had revealed something to the boy. In ant event, he didn't seem as earnest as he once did, and his grins seemed to be hiding something. He probably just needed time to work things out, though.

"I don't see why you're all celebrating."

Naruto and his group turned their attention to Kokoa, who was sitting in a corner near them, a sour look on her face. She had been present when they had worked on the paper, and was surprisingly a bit helpful in its production, taking an executive position and, unlike Gin, giving criticism that was easy to follow up on.

Hotaru just laughed and tossed a juice can to the red-head, saying, "Lighten up. Everyone's just happy that Tsukune-san is okay and that we got a paper out. You helped with the latter, too, so enjoy yourself."

Kokoa was caught off-guard by the projectile and barely caught it, fumbling a bit before hand, before turning and angry gaze over to the girl. "That's not the point. We wrote a story on how there was a group of criminals hiding on campus attacking students and that they were apprehended. There was added detail, yes, but nowhere was there mention of our direct involvement, the death of one of the men, or the intervention of one of the teachers. Instead, we say we confronted someone responsible for dispatching the gang who would prefer to remain nameless. That's not even adding the fact that there is no mention of the students who went missing during the gang's occupation. How can you get away with withholding so much of the truth?"

"You fail to understand how our club operates."

At some point during Kokoa's rant, Gin had made his way over to the group and had overheard the ginger's complaints. Everyone turned to him, expecting a sarcastic quip or some bullshit piece of advice, but seeing his serious face, immediately knew that wasn't the case.

"We don't want to implicate our direct involvement with these matters because it's bad publicity. Eventually, people would begin to think we're lionizing our members or acts of violence required to protect the academy's integrity. Normally, I wouldn't want to publish something like this in the first place, but it's such a big story it would be too suspicious to not mention it. In essence, we omit some details so we can be seen as reliable, which we are. It may not make sense to you, but try to understand. As for the missing student bit, though, that was Zetsu's decision. Tell me, why didn't we include that?"

Gin and the others turned to the giant to hear his answer. Gin's logic made a bit of sense, but it was hard to understand the reasoning behind of Zetsu's editing. In response, the man said, "Quite simply, we didn't actually come across any student or their remains. While we can assume that the gang was behind their disappearances, we don't have any proof of it. Given that they are, in fact, alive, and are just indisposed, there is no need to worry the other students or ruin our reputation if they do return, however unlikely that is."

"Fair enough," Gin replied with a nod, signing off on Zetsu's decision, even if it was to late to rectify it if he hadn't. The boy then opened his mouth, prepared to say more, but was interrupted by the door violently swinging open, revealing Nekonome, the club supervisor.

The violent intrusion, while making everyone pause and look to the door, wasn't what took most people by surprise, though. It was the fact that Nekonome had stumbled in, carrying what appeared to be a bottle of champagne, and dressed-up in a cheerleader's uniform with 'Newspaper Club' written on the shirt.

"Nekonome-sensei?" asked Tsukune, causing the woman to turn to him and act as if she had just noticed everyone was there. A confused look was quickly replaced with a smile.

"Ah, I found you. Good, you're celebrating. You deserve it."

Giggling, the woman did a twirl, he skirt lifting up a bit and following. No one was sure what to think exactly. They wouldn't get the chance to ask, though, as the woman soon continued.

"To celebrate the production of the first paper of the year, I got you something that will help recruit some new students into the club later."

Naruto and several others weren't very trusting of the apparently drunk Nekonome, but really didn't have any recourse other than going along with the woman.

/

(At Club Registration):

Most of the student body was gathered around the inner courtyard of Youkai Academy, either trying to attract potential members to their club displays, or perusing their options in respect to the former. Of course, there were upperclassmen with no intention to join a new club walking from display to display to avoid avoid having to work at their own displays.

There were many clubs to choose from, though a few got more attention than others. For example, the sports clubs were good at garnering attention from the student body, and so was the swim club, even though they had been put on probation the previous year for misconduct. And then, there was the newspaper club.

A massive crowd had surrounded the stand, with everyone trying to push ahead to the front where the members were handing out papers. Though that wasn't the reason for the uproar. No, that was due to Nekonome providing the female members costumes like her own to wear. That was pretty much the sole reason many of the men were gathered around. And, while some members were fine with this, knowing that it was definitely attracting attention to the club and getting the paper out there, others would not be as easily placated.

Kokoa, for one, was livid that she had been forced to participate with the other girls, especially considering that she wasn't even officially a member. It was more than that, though. She felt shame at being forced to wear such revealing clothing in front of people she didn't know, being stared at by all those eyes, and treated as little more than eye candy. It was disgraceful.

It didn't help that the girl had previous confidence issues, and wanted little more than be seen as strong and earn the respect of her sister. So, when people started making comments about how cute she was, especially when blushing, she couldn't take it any more. Dropping the papers she was holding, Kokoa took off, using her skill to jump above the crowd and find a secluded space to calm down. Yukari took off after her, concerned, as did Hotaru, the latter figuring that since she had spent a bit more time with the girl, she could better get to the root of the problem.

With those three gone, the crowd closed in closer to the remaining girls, bringing the ire from the other individual who didn't agree with the uniform directive. Naruto didn't like all of the horny little shits gathering around Mizore, though the girl herself didn't protest about having to wear it, so the blond kept his concerns to himself. It also helped that the outfit was quite flattering and that Mizore would constantly turn back to him and wink or blow him kisses. Needless to say, Naruto was just as captivated as pretty much any other male there.

However, the other reason he couldn't take his eyes off of her was because of all the other guys there. He had to remain vigilant to ensure no one tried to pull anything. Of course, in retrospect, Naruto realized that he was being foolish; he only cared for Mizore's well-being here, dedicating his attention to her, even though he knew that she could handle herself if what had happened a few days previous was any indication. Then again, he supposed he would defend Moka and Kurumu as well should some hapless pervert try to cop a feel, granted someone raised the alarm and alerted him.

The thought process stopped there, however, as he noticed a suspicious character approach Mizore. The girl turned to him and handed over a paper, which he accepted with a small smile on his face. He said something, which Naruto couldn't hear over the sound of the crowd, but the blond could see the looks on both his and Mizore's faces, overconfidence and disgust, respectively. With that, Naruto began to make his way over, quickening his pace as he saw the kid lean in close to whisper something to the girl.

Mizore quickly turned away from the student, ready to hand out papers to other students, only to have her wrist grabbed by the persistent boy. Seeing this, Naruto began to run forward, yelling, "What do you think you're doing?" and attracting the others' attention. At the same moment, Mizore acted, spinning and locking the boy's arm behind him as she delivered a punch to his kidney, causing him to release her due to both the sudden pain and crumple to the floor.

By that time, Naruto had made it over, and quickly asked Mizore if she was alright. She nodded in reply, saying, "I'm fine, thanks."

Pleased with the answer, at least for the moment, the blond gave is full attention to the boy, who was just rising to his feet. Gasping and holding his side, the student saw Naruto and said, "You, you're in this club, aren't you? You need to control that bitch and teach her some manners!"

Registering what the boy had said, Naruto barred his teeth and violently grabbed the student by his collar. "That's my girlfriend, you worthless fuck!" he growled out, decking the boy in the face and sending him sprawling back to the ground with blood flying from his mouth. The blond then reared back to kick him, only to be grabbed from behind by Gin and Zetsu, giving the student enough time to crawl off in fear.

Gin then shoved the blond fully into Zetsu's arms, making sure the giant had a good hold on the struggling boy, saying, "Get him out of here! He's scaring people off!"

"No! Let me get that bastard! I'll teach him some respect!" Naruto shouted, still struggling. Seeing that he wasn't going anywhere fast, Mizore approached, cupped the blond's cheek, and placed a soft kiss on his lips, calming him down almost immediately from shock if nothing else.

"Relax, Naruto-kun. As you've seen, I can do a good job of protecting myself."

Seeing no reason to keep holding him, Zetsu set his friend back down on his feet. now free, the blond turned to Gin, glaring as he said, "If anything happens to Mizore-chan, you die first," before returned on his heel and made his way through the crowd, Zetsu following close behind as students quickly parted to let them through.

Gin just held his face, sighing as he wondered aloud, "What is wrong with the people I surround myself with?"

(With Naruto and Zetsu):

"That asshole," Naruto mumbled as he and Zetsu weaved through the crowds surrounding the club displays. The blond wasn't all to concerned with what other clubs were offering, as he had no intention of leaving the newspaper club, or Mizore, as it were.

"Which one?" asked Zetsu, causing his angry friend to turn to him, now slightly confused.

"What?"

"Who's the asshole you're talking about? The guy you nearly killed, or Gin, who made you leave?"

"They're both assholes," Naruto grunted, "but that shit-stain we don't know is the one who has me pissed off."

"Have you considered tai-chi?"

"What?" Naruto asked again, this time turning to fully face Zetsu. The man's questions were catching him increasingly off guard.

"I was sent with you to keep you away from our stand and to calm you down. From what I understand, tai-chi is supposed to be very calming and trains both your body and your mind."

"And how would you know that?"

In response, Zetsu pointed over Naruto's shoulder. The blond followed the hand, turning to find a small stage with just a few people surrounding it. On the stage was another small group, each moving in slow synchronization with one another. The booth near the stage also had a banner on it, summing up almost everything Zetsu had said.

Before Naruto could take anything else in, he began to be dragged to the stage by Zetsu. "Come on, you might enjoy it."

By the time they got there, the considerably small crowd had shrunk even more, and though the people on stage didn't seem to mind, the student in the booth seemed just about ready to fall asleep from lack of stimulation. He perked right up when he registered two strange people, one being dragged behind the other, approaching him.

"How can I help you?" he asked, a strained smile on his face.

"I'd like to sign my friend up for a lesson," Zetsu responded.

The student in the booth looked around the man to see the blond flailing behind him, yelling, "Let me go, dammit! I didn't agree to this!"

"You mean him," he asked Zetsu speculatively.

"Yeah, he's a bit angry, but I understand you may be able to help him with that."

"Well, of course, we allow anyone who wants to the option to learn the first few forms of tai-chi free of charge. Then again, it usually requires the consent of the applicant."

Nodding, Zetsu placed Naruto on his own feet and said, "Look, You need to calm down, but you don't need me here with you to do it. So just take the lessons, lighten up, and enjoy the day. See what the school has to offer. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, fine."

"So you'll actually do it?" asked Zetsu, suspicious with how little resistance Naruto was providing.

Naruto just nodded, and while the giant still didn't really believe him, the whole point was that he didn't want to feel like he had to babysit an angry Naruto and get caught up in his emotions. So, instead of arguing, the man just turned and walked away, intent on keeping himself occupied during Naruto's banishment.

When Zetsu was out of sight, Naruto began to walk away, only to be stopped by a voice.

"You should be grateful to have such a friend."

Confused, the blond looked around, certain that the voice had been talking to him, but seeing no one around him. Then, he noticed a person on the stage. The person was watching Naruto intently, yet had neither stopped nor slowed in his routine in the slightest, retaining his synchronization with the others.

Seeing that he was finally being paid attention to, the group member continued with, "He accepts you for your faults, as I'm sure you do for his, even if they are not all clear to either of you. However, he wishes for you to calm down; he feels that you are to rash and both act and react too quickly for the good of anyone, as it were. He trusts you to tackle this problem on your own after some prodding, or just feels that to watch over you constantly would wound your pride. In either event, it shows he cares for you and wants to help with your anger issues."

"Oh really?" asked Naruto rolling his eyes. "And how would you, who has never met either of us, know this?"

"One who chooses to train their body and mind equally, one who trains to open their eyes, can pick up a lot of information from body language and social reactions. For example, you appear to be a fighter, if the slight bulk your muscles create is any indication. While your knuckles aren't bruised and without obvious scarring, that could be due to anything from wraps to conditioning. Maybe you just kick. All in all, you carry yourself as a fighter. However, your mind is far from clear. While I can only begin to imagine what you think about, I can tell that the current majority causes anger, both from actions and mistakes past and present... and now you show regret, something else that-... oh, never mind, the anger is back. However, the question remains: will you allow me to show you how to help harvest your anger into something better implemented in everyday life, or continue to be angry and disappoint your friend?"

For a while after, Naruto just glared at the man on the stage, not sure whether to tell them off or just walk away. In the end, though, the blond just heaved a sigh and resigned himself to his lesson.

"Fine, what can you show me?"

"First, join us up here on stage."

Naruto readily complied. The man had stopped by now, allowing the others to keep going as he focused on getting Naruto up to speed.

"Now, take this stance and do as I do. The thing to remember is to go slow, and try to feel your energies moving around inside your body."

(With Zetsu):

"I must admit, I'm impressed. King Protea is extremely difficult to grow outside its natural habitat. However, it appears just as it should; its colours are right, its of a healthy size, and it doesn't appear to have been artificially altered in any way. You've taken painstakingly good care of this specimen."

"Thank you for saying so, Sir. I appreciate that you are able to see the true value of what would so easily write off."

Zetsu smiled at the cute brunette running the stand. It was by pure coincidence that the man had run into a booth for a new gardening club, though one Zetsu took in stride. He was pleased to finally meet someone who appreciated plants for their true worth, or at least enough so that they took pleasure in growing the more difficult breeds. The old gardening club, if they could truly be called that, cared for little more than getting high and making a profit, which was one of the main reasons that he had no trouble turning them in. besides, he had managed to smuggle a few of the more delicate plants back to his dorm before everything else had been seized, so it wasn't all bad.

"Please, call me Zetsu. No need to be so formal," the man responded. "So tell me, what made you interested in starting a gardening club?"

"Oh, well gardening has always been a hobby of mine, I guess. I grew up around a bunch of exotic plants, and my father kind of got me to help him take care of them, and I just sort of had a knack for it. When I got here, I heard that there had used to be a gardening club, but it was disbanded for one reason or another. So I got permission, and a bit of land, to start a new own. In fact. Most of the plants and seeds I brought with me from home."

"I see," Zetsu said, leaning on the counter, fully engaged in the conversation with this stranger. "So tell, me, what other challenging plants have you grown in this climate?"

"Well, I do have this," the girl said, reaching under the table and replacing the King Protea with a smaller plant with red petals growing from a white stick with dark purple bulges at the ends.

Zetsu's eyes widened a bit at seeing it, more than a little surprised to see such a flower. "Is that..." he began to ask, only to have the girl confirm his suspicions.

"Yep," she said, a large smile on her face, "it's a Sturt Desert Pea."

"May I?" Zetsu asked, reaching for the plant. The girl nodded cheerily, prompting Zetsu to carefully grasp the fragile pot that housed the plant and bring it closer to his face for further examination. "And you grew this from germination onwards?"

"Actually, that's the fourth generation I've overseen by myself," she responded, a bit abashed at the attention she was receiving, especially considering she only expected a few visitors, none of whom that would actually understand the care it took to properly maintain these plants.

"Now that's impressive," Zetsu remarked, a grin now splitting his own face. "You clearly know what you're doing."

"You seem to know a lot, too," the girl remarked, returning the compliment. "You know, I actually have a project that I've been working on, but could use a little help with? Would you maybe be interested in coming over later and checking it out?"

"I don't see why not," he responded, preparing to set the desert pea back on the counter. However, that was before he was shoved roughly from behind by a small group of people rushing by, yelling something to each other that he couldn't quite make out. That didn't matter, though, as the violent motion had knocked Zetsu to the ground, face first, not that the group cared.

The girl running the stand did, though, as she hurried over to Zetsu to help him up. "Are you okay?" she asked, though he could only look to the ground, where pieces of shattered pottery, soil, and a crushed flower lay.

His hair hid his eyes, and his mouth was a solid line, as he asked in a crisp voice, "How much?"

"What?" asked the girl, not quite understanding.

"The Sturt Desert Pea, how much would you say you would have sold it for?"

The girl looked at him for a moment before shaking her head in disbelief. "Come on, that wasn't your fault. Besides, I have more samples, I can always grow another.

"**How much?"** asked Zetsu a final time, his voice growing darker and scaring the girl into giving him an answer as he rose to is feet.

"Uh, I don't know, six-thousand yen?"

With a calmness ill-befitting of his inner emotions, Zetsu reached into his pocket, retrieved a wallet, and placed the stated amount in the confused girl's hands.

"Wait, why are you so insistent of paying for this?" she asked.

"Because now it's my problem," Zetsu simply stated, his voice returning to its previous state as he stalked off after the ones who had angered him.

(Back with Naruto):

Turning behind him to wave at the tai-chi group, the blond walked down a stray, sparsely populated path, a content smile on his face, feeling more relaxed than he could ever remember being. He wasn't quite ready to fully accept the calming power of tai-chi, but he would be willing to visit the club again for further instruction if he felt his rage begin to boil over in the future, if only to ensure he didn't do anything irrational and scare his friends.

Still, all that mattered at the moment was that he was feeling good about himself for the moment, and it would take a bit to bring him down. Of course, he could still be easily confused, and soo

n became so, seeing something further down the path that caused him to rub his eyes in an attempt to make sure he wasn't imagining this. He saw Hotaru and Yukari, which itself wasn't all too unnatural, even if it was a coincidence that he would run into them, but they were also looking at something, which appeared to be Kokoa beating down a pair of what appeared to be karate students. It only appeared that way though, because for one, Naruto didn't remember the red-head being taller than Hotaru or as... developed as this person was, and also, while the students were wearing training clothes, the defense they put up against their assailants assault may as well have been nonexistent.

Curious, the blond approached his peers, not trying to be particularly stealthy, but apparently being quiet enough to cause both Hotaru and Yukari to jump as he asked, "What's going on?"

"N-Naruto-kun! Where did you come from?" asked Hotaru, spinning around to meet the boy's crystalline gaze, only to see he wasn't really paying attention to her, but instead to the beatdown.

"Who's that?" he asked, pointing to the ginger who had by now finished dolling out punishment and instead moved on to gloating.

"That's... well, it's Kokoa-chan," Hotaru responded, unsure of how else she could put it. She expected her blond love interest to get worked up over it for one reason or another, but instead,he just retained his serene, contemplative look, not really showing any emotion.

"Uh-huh," he responded, still not looking at the ones he was talking to, "and why is she... the way she is... physically, at least?"

At this, Yukari looked down and began to make circles in the dirt with her toe, a bit embarrassed at being found out, or perhaps scared that Naruto found out and his expression was unreadable. In any event, the blond didn't see this, and as Yukari noticed that he wasn't rally concerned with their involvement, she was soon able to answer with, "I may have made something that caused her to age a bit."

"I see," Naruto said, walking passed the two girls to instead question Kokoa.

The young vampire hadn't really been paying attention to anything outside of her small scuffle and the feeling of victorious euphoria it brought her. Her little world was shattered, though, as she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder.

She spun around just as the person asked, "And what have you been up to?" only to see it was Naruto and relax a bit, letting an elated smile occupy her face once more.

"Oh, you know, just taking out the trash," she replied, casting a glance at the pair of whimpering students as she did so, giving them a vicious grin. Turning back, she saw that Naruto's face was pretty much devoid of emotion, something that usually would have given her pause since he usually seemed very emotive from what she had seen. However, she was still on a power high, so instead of asking why he seemed out of character, or why the blond was even there in the first place, she chose to follow up her previous statement with, "And I'm going to beat my way to earn Onee-sama's affection. She can't ignore me then. How would you like to be my next conquest?"

The question was met with a blank stare from Naruto, and off to the side both Yukari and Hotaru had to hide their faces in their hands due to how futile the challenge was, given the obvious power gap between the two. However, before Naruto could just write the girl off, and before she could just attack him, a voice sounded from behind the blond.

"He'll have to get in line."

Looking in the direction of the voice, everyone saw that at some point four more people had arrived, each of them dressed in karate uniforms like the students Kokoa had pretty much destroyed. The apparent leader of the group was a blond like Naruto, though his eyebrows were distinct due to their size.

"You did well to take out two of our members, but that's no reason to get cocky."

"Oh, really?" Kokoa asked, smirking at the new arrivals. "Is that a challenge I hear? Well bring it! If you can beat me, I may consider joining you!"

Under different circumstances, Naruto may have asked Kokoa if this was a goo idea, or maybe have stepped in just for the sake of a fight, but instead he just stepped back, wanting to see how this would play out.

"Hah, you're a brave one!" the man laughed, before becoming more serious, his grin becoming predatory. "I like that."

Kokoa returned the grin, ready to charge him, but just as she took a step forward, something happened. There was a slight puff of smoke, and the the red-head was smaller. She wasn't her normal size, though, having shrunk to the point that she was now smaller than Yukari. Her clothes didn't shrink with her, though, her now over-sized skirt falling to the ground one of the straps on her top falling over her shoulder, leaving her rather revealed.

Shock had immobilized both the karate club and anyone that would give Kokoa aid, leaving the smaller than usual girl wondering just what was going on. "Hey, why are you all so tall?"

It was then that she took stock of herself, noticing how small she now was, and how exposed. Hurriedly, she took up her skirt again and tried to cover herself as best as she could, embarrassment growing and tinging her cheeks a deep red like her hair.

"Yukari, what happened? I though I was supposed to grow! You said nothing about shrinking down this much!"

While Kokoa complained to Yukari and the young witch tried to assuage her worries, Naruto figured it time to step in. "As you can see, she isn't really in any position to fight anymore. You might want to try again later."

In turn, the leader of the karate group gave Naruto a blank stare, before flashing him a smile. "Don't worry," he chuckled, "I wouldn't dream of harming a child. But if it's all the same to you, I still want to intimidate her a bit. Think you could help me out?"

"How so?" Naruto asked, cocking his head, and seeing nothing wrong with showing Kokoa that she shouldn't get so ahead of herself in the future.

"Your name is Uzumaki, isn't? Gin has mentioned you in passing."

Naruto nodded a bit, now wondering how this person knew Gin and why he would bring this information up at this time.

The other blond's smile just grew. "Great! In that case, this may hurt a little!"

Before Naruto could register what was said, he saw a fist flying at him. He attempted to block, expecting the punch to connect, but instead, the fist stopped a few inches from his body. The force carried by the punch continued onwards, though blowing Naruto back into some nearby foliage, only stopping when he impacted a tree.

"Asshole," Naruto growled out, picking a twig out of his hair, "could've given me some warning. If I see him again, I'll... no, deep breaths, calm down. Need to be rational. I won't disappoint Mizore-chan or Zetsu with outbursts anymore."

/

(With Zetsu, not so far away):

Yellow eyes narrowed as he watched his prey, saw them scurry about, unknowing of what was waiting for them. He had yet to make his presence know, preferring to savor the hunt, to study the carefully, to strike when the moment was right. There were three of them.

"Come on, where is he? He has to be around here somewhere!"

"Maybe he's in the more populated areas. Why would he be all the way out here?"

"He's a social misfit, a delinquent. He doesn't like interacting with others. He's probably loitering about around here somewhere."

"Why are we doing this again? It seems like a waste of time."

At that, the smaller figure, the apparent leader, turned to the larger follower who had spoke out. Grabbing him by the collar, he reached back and smacked him in the face, sending the larger figure to the ground.

"He humiliated me, made me seem weak. I'm not weak! Do you think I'm weak?" he started to yell, prompting the other two to shake their head vigorously. "I didn't think so. We have to show him that."

"In that case, why don't we check the woods?" asked the other follower. "He may be hiding somewhere in there."

Agreeing, the small group wandered into the woods, causing a gleam to appear in Zetsu's eye. He disappeared after them. He waited for them to wander adequately deep into the wooded area before striking, swiftly and decisively.

He began by sneaking up the one who had stayed closer to the back of the group, the one who had suggested they look in the woods for their own query. He simply applied pressure to his neck, cutting off his access to oxygen and fresh blood, knocking him out while making sure to keep him quiet. He simply let the limp body fall to the ground when he was done. There was no satisfaction in taking him out, he wasn't his real target, but it minimized the risk. He felt the need to assure himself, this wasn't about the plant, that itself was salvageable. No, it was much more primal, something he couldn't explain. He had an idea, but the implications of it were something he didn't want to face. No, unfortunately for his targets, they had just inadvertently angered him with their carelessness.

"Why did you suggest this again? This was a horrible idea!" the leader complained. He expected a mumbled apology from the one responsible, but nothing came. Turning, prepared to demand for an apology, he saw a person missing. "Wha-Where'd he go?"

"How should I know?" asked his other companion, still not completely psyched about being out here in the first place.

"Well find him! Look over there!" he was ordered. The boy sighed, but complied.

He turned and started walking back, on the lookout for his friend. He didn't really like the woods surrounding the school. They were hollow, but hard to get around if you were specifically looking for something in on on the other side of them, almost as if they had a mind of their own, and it wanted to keep you inside itself for as long as it could. It didn't help the there were random sounds with no apparent origin, nothing to cause them. It made him want to leave all the more.

He soon stumbled upon another person though, their back turned to him, but even so, it appeared to be his friend.

"Hey," he called out, causing the person to turn around, and confirming that it was his friend. Or looked like him, at least. It caused relief to wash over him, in any event, as he wasn't alone anymore. "Come on man, the boss is waiting for us," he continued, approaching, the person also getting closer.

He had let his guard down, not that it was really up in the first place, and was easily taken by surprise when the person he thought was his friend grabbed him by the back of his head and then rammed his own into his face, breaking his nose. His hands rose up, both out of pain and to stem the flow of blood, further leaving him open as his head was then forced downwards, his chin slamming against the person's rising knee. That was apparently enough to send him into unconsciousness, as his body just fell, held up only by the person still holding him by the back of the head. With that, Zetsu let both his disguise, and the body, drop. One more person to go, the one he really wanted.

"Damnit, where is everyone?" the leader yelled out, seemingly to himself. He figured that his two followers had gone soft on him and had just left, leaving him to both find and deal with his target on his own. It's not like he needed their help in the first place. He could handle the situation by himself. They didn't think he could, and he knew they thought that, but he would show them. Or so he told himself. In any event, he wasn't expecting a voice, a menacing whisper, to emanated directly behind him.

"_The only one you need to worry about now is right here."_

The boy spun around, startled, expecting to meet the person who spoke, perhaps with them already attacking him, but instead, there was nothing. "What the...?"

"_Or rather, all around you."_

Again, the harsh whisper sounded, but it was loud, surprisingly so. It made the boy cover his ears in pain. It also sounded as it the voice was right on top of him, almost as if coming from his own being.

"Wh-who's there?" he demanded, looking all around him. His eyes were wide, his mouth dry, his heart racing, as if trying to bust its way out of his chest. "Stop playing around! Come out!"

"_How oblivious you are to what's in front of you."_

Then, from the corner of his eye, the boy saw something, a dark figure. He spun to get a better look, but it was like it just fazed out of existence, only to appear in the peripheral of his other eye, slightly closer. Again he turned, this time able to center the shadowy being in his vision, cementing the fact to him that it was real, before once again vanishing, flickering just in his line of sight.

This game went on a few more rounds, before the dark figure just appeared a few feet in front of him causing the boy to stumble back, frightened, and into a solid figure. Forgetting about what was right in front of him, he turned around, seeing Zetsu right behind him. He fell back, not really sure what to believe, if this was all real or if he was just crazy, only to be caught by Zetsu grabbing his neck and hoisting him above the ground.

The boy flailed, holding Zetsu's wrist and trying get him to let go, struggling for air as the giant just calmly appraised him. "Hmm, you're that scum from earlier, the one who tried to make a move on Shirayuki-san. That just makes you more fun to break."

And this is the scene Naruto stumbled upon, his friend strangling the person who had sent him into a miniature rage. For a moment, he was frozen, conflicted about what he should do. He was out of sight of the two,so he had some time to think on it, but it really didn't take long for him to make himself known.

"Zetsu, what's going on?"

The tall man didn't turn to regard his friend, and as such, it was almost as if he were talking to his captive, or his surroundings, more than the blond, refusing to even direct his own question to anyone in particular. "What are you doing here?"

Naruto noticed that Zetsu's voice sounded almost... strained, as if he were struggling to come to a decision about something. The blond could only guess what. It was then that the blond recognized the person Zetsu was holding as the one who he had lashed out against earlier. Momentarily, his anger flared, and he considered walking up and start beating him like a punching bag as Zetsu strangled him, but he suppressed the urge. He still found himself at a crossroads, though.

On one hand, he could just walk away, let Zetsu do whatever he would, presumably killing the student for some unspecified reason. Better yet, he may be able to watch, derive some sort of amusement out of the display, but from the sound of his friend's voice earlier, Zetsu probably didn't want him there. Of course, there was then the fact that Zetsu was the one who had gotten him to calm down for the day. It made him wonder, was this some kind of test? Was he meant to find this, so he could be judged on how much further he had to go to truly become calm? It didn't really make sense to him, but he did come to one conclusion; this wasn't the Zetsu he knew.

"Put him down," the blond said, more like order, really. It caused Zetsu to cast him a quick glance, almost as if h thought he misheard, before deliberating a bit more. Naruto could see the student didn't have much time left, and while he really didn't care about him, he did care about his friend's integrity. "Now," he commanded, a bit more forcefully, before calmly adding, "this isn't you."

At that, Zetsu snarled a bit, holding his head in his free hand, almost as if he were in pain, before finally dropping the boy, allowing him to gasp for air. It didn't mean Zetsu was satisfied, though. "Why? Why are you here? Why do you care if this guy lives?"

"I don't," the blond simply stated, crossing his arms over his chest as he regarded Zetsu approaching him. "But I don't want you to do something you may regret. I may not have known you for long, or what you were like before you ended up here, but from what I've seen, you don't harm people if you can help. Now, while I don't have a problem with caving someone's skull in (as long as there aren't any protests from someone who's opinion I care about), I'm not going to let you do it if you'll regret it. Now, do you really want him dead? Look at him and tell me?"

Zetsu, surprised with how logical Naruto was being complied, looking at the sorry sight of the whimpering student, and sighed, feeling his anger all but vanish, almost as if it had never existed. "No."

"Good, then I guess now we..." before Naruto could finish, something had happened. Somewhere between when Zetsu had given his answer to when Naruto had started talking again, the discarded student had unsteadily risen to his feet, drew a small knife and began charging. By the time the blond had stopped, the student had found his mark, digging the blade into Zetsu's back, causing the man to gasp and start to fall forward. He managed to stop his descent before he really went anywhere, though, and shakily turned.

Faster than the frightened student could process, the giant had driven an elbow into the top of his skull, cracking it as he was driven face force into the ground with enough force to bounce, allowing Zetsu to actually punt him into a tree. The man followed up extracting the blade preparing to throw it at the student, who had passed out from the impact and had no chance to avoid it, only to find he couldn't move his arm. Looking back, he saw why, as Naruto held his arm in a vice-like grip. As the blond was stronger then him, there really wasn't a way he could get out of this, unless he wanted to strike his friend.

"Drop it, we're leaving."

It took a moment for Zetsu to take stock of his options, before he complied, dropping the knife on the ground. He then began to limp his way out of the woods, following behind Naruto, before the blond noticed his mobility issues.

Slowing down, Naruto, crouched in front of his friend and looked back at him, a sign that said 'get on'. The man refused, sidestepping around the blond, only to find himself being propped up, Naruto having moved under his side to support him, despite the height difference.

"I can travel on my own," Zetsu said, making no move to push his friend away as they moved more rapidly to their destination, now in tandem.

"Could've fooled me," was the blond's curt response. He then added, "Besides, this is slightly faster."

"And just where do you plan on dragging me?"

"Medical center."

"No."

This caused Naruto to look at Zetsu strangely, but he decided against arguing with him. Instead, he just asked, "Where to, then?"

"Club room," Zetsu said. "This event is winding down, so people should be heading back with their groups. I don't doubt Kurumu-san's stitching ability, or the fact that she as one at all, but if that fails, I'm sure we'll think of something."

The two lapsed into silence after that, with Naruto supporting Zetsu as they continued on and the large man attempting to stem the blood flowing out of his wound, the latter failing as his coat became stained a deep crimson. Noticing this, Naruto used his free hand and better positioning to apply the needed pressure, causing a slight, almost unnoticeable wince to come across Zetsu's features.

Luckily, the foot traffic the two came across was nonexistent, allowing them to proceed without questioning. The halls of the school were no different, everyone having already packed up what they needed and left, taking a break before they had to dismantle the stands completely. The stairs did cause some trouble, but once that obstacle was out of the way, it wasn't long before they came to the room their club used as a central hub. His hands full, the blond pushed it open with his foot.

He pushed too hard, the door slamming open and causing everyone to turn their attention the the two now standing there. Naruto noticed that they were all gathered around a large table, drinks being passed out to celebrate a hard day's work. They all forgot their accomplishments, though, noticing that the blond was supporting his larger friend, and that blood was starting to form a small puddle behind the latter, having already dripped a trail that showed the path they took.

As the two entered the room, everyone rose, Tsukune and Gin helping Naruto bring Zetsu to a smaller, unoccupied table he could rest on while the others began asking questions.

"What happened?" asked Mizore, keeping calm and turning to Naruto to get an answer.

"We got into a fight," Naruto admitted, feeling a bit of shame at the looks he received, though not showing it. It obviously sounded bad, being sent away for violent tendencies and ordered to calm down only to get into a fight and have a friend stabbed. He probably could have put it better, even if he wasn't being entirely truthful. Of course, he wasn't about to throw his wounded friend under the bis by blaming him.

By this time, Zetsu had gotten his shirt and jacket off, allowing free access to his injury. He decided to take over the duty of fielding the question, rolling with Naruto's lie. "We were jumped by the punk he scared away earlier. He brought friends. And a knife. I got stabbed."

This was the first Naruto had heard of other people. He hadn't seen them in the woods. Was Zetsu making that up, or were there really others? It caused an eyebrow to arch in confusion.

"But why did you come here?"asked Kurumu, drawing Naruto's attention, as it was him which the question was directed at. "You should have taken him to the infirmary. How are we supposed to handle this?"

"Zetsu believed you could sew him up. He refused to go there on that basis."

"I can't sew!" Kurumu shouted, causing Naruto to look pointedly at Zetsu. The man, now with his stomach on the table and his arms propping up his head, actually looked marginally surprised. "And even if I could, we don't have those materials!"

"We could cauterize the wound," Hotaru suggested, causing the others to look at her. She was examining the wound, soaking up blood with paper towels to allow for a better view. "I mean, it's going to scar either way, so what difference does it make if it's a burn or not? And since we have neither the materials nor skill to stitch you up, and you won't get proper medical attention, we really don't have much choice. It also dos a good job of immediate disinfection."

"That doesn't really help with damage inflicted deeper inside him. One of his organs could have potentially been sliced, of a blood vessel attached to one. It's bad to just burn those shut." Yukari brought up a good argument, leaving some to think of new ideas. "Besides, we don't really have a source of heat high enough to close his wound."

"None of my organs were hit, trust me, I know," Zetsu said, drawing attention back to him. "And if a blood vessel was, I'll deal with whatever complications a procedure would entail in good time. As for the cauterization, I doubt she would bring it up unless she had a plan."

"Yes, actually," Hotaru affirmed. Then, as if to prove a point, she snapped her fingers, and a flame appeared over the tip of her thumb. It got the expected reaction out of people, like she was a magician or something. "Now, does anyone have a piece of metal? It's easier that way. Also, you know this is going to hurt, right?"

Zetsu just nodded.

Not seeing any real reason to stay, Naruto proceeded to slip out of the doorway, content with taking a walk to clear his head. He didn't notice Mizore follow him out, and in turn, she didn't notice Kokoa follow her until she caught up. No one notice their disappearance until later.

It wasn't until Naruto had made it to a group of unmarked headstones then he stopped, resting against one and unknowingly allowing the other two to catch up.

"Want to talk?" asked Mizore, causing the blond to turn his head almost mechanically. He didn't seem surprised by their presence, but Kokoa's outfit was another matter.

"What are you wearing?"

Because her other clothes were now too big due to her shrinking, the others had apparently found a ruffled black dress for her to wear. Blushing at being reminded of her current state of affairs, her only response to him was a simply, "S-Shut up!"

Grunting at the reply, he turned back around. "Why are you guys here, anyway?"

"It's obvious you weren't telling the whole story back there, and for whatever reason that was, I doubt it was to protect your image."

As Mizore spoke, she moved around to sit next to Naruto, grabbing his hand as she did so and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I don't suppose you want to tell me about it."

"Not really," Naruto said, to which he meant, 'not at the moment'. While he didn't have a problem with Kokoa, or not as big a problem as he did, he didn't really trust her enough. Seeing Mizore's nod, he knew she got the message. He then turned to Kokoa, asking, "And what about you?"

"You're the only one who hasn't treated me as a kid yet," she replied, pouting a bit at the memory of how everyone had been acting as if she were a toddler or something. "I figured that makes you more tolerable than everyone else right now."

"Everyone's treating you like a kid?" he asked, a bit confused. Yes, her body was that of a child, but surely her past actions would make up for that, right? Then, he turned to Mizore for confirmation, only to have her turn away from him, a blush on her face as she mumbled something about Kokoa being 'too cute' and then something about a 'maternal instinct'. The blond didn't really know what to think about that.

"See, you don't care! Why can't the others be more like you?"

"They're probably just watching out for you," Naruto said dismissively. "You know, worried that this change really got to you."

"Well that's stupid! I'm the youngest of four sisters, I know what it's like being small, and it sucks! But this body is nothing but a hindrance to me, and I might be able to deal with it if it were just that! No, what really get's to me is that they think like that!"

The outburst left Kokoa out of breath, and the others gave her time to catch it before she continued, this time at a calmer pace.

"Why can't they just see I don't want to be worried about, that I can take care of myself?"

"It's because we see you as our friend," said Mizore, cutting into the conversation. "That means we don't think you should have to shoulder a burden on your own, despite what your pride tells you. And yes, maybe we were wrong about teasing you the way we did, being as condescending as we were, and while I can't speak for the others, I did it in part to bring you closer, give a sense of familiarity so you wouldn't be so adverse to us in general. So if you were expecting an apology at the end of this, then I can say you will be disappointed."

It took a bit for Kokoa to register what Mizore was saying, and from the blank look she was receiving, the young vampire would have to take what was said at face value. Once she heard the end, though, a small scowl appeared on her face. "You bitch," she huffed, before the scowl was replaced by a small grin. "Thanks."

The smile was reciprocated, and by the time Naruto finally understood what Mizore did, he, too, smiled. The good times were interrupted, though, by the arrival of a dozen or so people, all of whom carried an aura of malicious glee.

"Heh, we finally found..." the leader, who Naruto recognized as one of the two people Kokoa had beaten up earlier, began, before cutting himself off, as he finally noticed the presence of the blond and his girlfriend. Ignoring their leader's pause, the others continued to surround the three, though one did speak up on the matter.

"Hay, I thought you said it was just one chick?"

"Well, now you can see that you were wrong," said Mizore flatly, standing up to join Kokoa. "Of course, it's a wonder you didn't notice earlier. I mean, the area is rather flat, and there isn't anything to obstruct one's view."

"Shut up!"

At this point, most people noticed the blond still sitting on the grave stone, a conflicted look on his face. Mizore, a bit concerned, turned to him and asked, "Are you going to join us?"

"Hmm? Oh, nah, I think the runt can handle this herself. Besides, she got herself into this mess, if she really need help, I'll step in. That okay with you?"

The question was directed at the red-head, to which she just nodded, a nervous determination in her eyes. Regardless of what she was feeling, though, she said, "I got this," a small smirk on her face. Hearing this, Mizore rejoined Naruto, as the thugs just looked at their target(s?) in confusion, unsure of what to do.

Finally, the leader reasoned that, "We're on;y here for the brat, focus on her!" allowing the battle to start, Kokoa appearing to hold her own quite easily, despite the odds. It gave Mizore a chance to question Naruto, in any event.

"You know, usually you would jump into a fight like this without thinking. What's up?"

In response, the blond shrugged. "It's pretty obvious that the others think I need to tone it down a bit. I'm just trying to take that into consideration. Even if that weren't the case, though, the runt needs to be put up against the ropes, see that it is okay to accept help.

"If this is about earlier today, yes, it may help to think things through, but no one holds it against you if you get into fights like this, especially to help a friend, that's just how we live. Is that why you left earlier, because you felt ashamed at getting into a fight and having Zetsu-san get wounded?"

A pause, as the two had to lean to the side to avoid a thugs body flying towards them. They both regarded the fight with little interest, and Naruto noticed that the violence really didn't have an affect on Mizore. He wondered when that happened, or it t were always like that. Then, she continued.

"As for Kokoa-chan, are you sure she would let you interfere after you said that you would only if she asked? It may just make her angry. You never ask for help."

It was unknown if the two were just oblivious to the fact that with each time the other spoke, more topics were added to the initial conversation, or if they just didn't care. It didn't really matter, though, as the blond's next statement put the discussion to rest for the moment.

"Maybe you're right."

The fight was over soon after that. Kokoa had managed to defeat the thugs and their leader with no external help, and even though she was exhausted, there was also a strange sense of accomplishment welling within her. Turning to the two, she showed her gratitude with a deep bow. "Thank you. You guys let me take care of my own problems, even though appearances would cause anyone else to automatically jump in and 'protect' me. You know, before this, I was considering joining some other club because of the others, but you, you guys seem to understand me. Maybe with you, things won't be so unbearable."

"Come to think of it, did you actually ever tell the others what you told us before the fight?" asked Mizore, causing a blank look to come over Kokoa's face before it was replaced with one of embarrassment.

"You think that would help?"

She received a shrug as an answer as the trio made their way back to the club.

/

(A Few Days Later):

By the time the trio had gotten back, Zetsu had stalked off to presumably get some rest, leaving the others with little to do but wonder what the three were doing. They explained themselves, and Kokoa had told them a shorter version of what she had told Mizore and Naruto.

The newspaper club had received no new members, as word of Naruto's violent tendencies had spread to the freshmen, and most people had stopped from handing in their forms. Surprisingly (to the blond), they all had a laugh at that, despite how critical he expected them to be. He supposed it was just because he had played a major part in having Kokoa truly join them, which was more important.

Things weren't all good, though. For the past few days, there had been disappearances. No bodies, no notes, and their dorm rooms still had their belongings in them. In short, no explanation as to where or why these students were just vanishing. It was... more than a bit unsettling, and, of course, it was the newspaper's next big story.

"This is getting bad," said Kurumu to the group gathered around the table. Every member of the club was gathered, with the exception of Zetsu, Kokoa, and Gin. "Already, nine students have disappeared in the last week alone. Those missing seem to have nothing in common; all of them were in different clubs, different years, none of them really shared characteristics, physically, socially, or mentally, and it didn't seem as if they knew each other. What we can assume is that they were all outside at night by themselves when they vanished."

"So what do you propose?" asked Yukari, deferring back to Kurumu, who had taken up a leadership role in their president's absence.

"Our primary goal should be to warn the students. I suggest we write an article, cautioning everyone against going out after dark if they can help it, least of all by themselves. After that, maybe we can start looking for clues that can aid the faculty in catching this person."

"How do we know it's only one person, though? I mean, there could be multiple people doing this individually, as scary as it seems. As you said, nothing connects any of the disappearances."

Tsukune brought up a good point, though Kurumu shook her head. "I suppose anything is possible, but this seems too clean to be multiple people. In all cases, there is no evidence, and it seems more likely it was one person stalking the school grounds. I wouldn't write your theory off completely, but as of now, this is too consistent."

Naruto had to stifle a laugh at that. Too consistent with no evidence behind the disappearances? Didn't seem to make much sense to him. Of course, it was hard for him to understand the girl. When one of those who vanished was revealed as the student he and Zetsu had had a conflict with, Kurumu suggested the blond had something to do with it. Luckily, he had Mizore and the others to back him up, have spent the evening doing homework with them. Then again, it did make sens he may have been involved.

"Now then, Moka, I think you would be best to write this article. The rest of us should do what we normally do for now."

This suggestion was met with agreement as the large group moved apart into two smaller ones and Moka who began doing as she was told. In Naruto's group, he, Yukari, Mizore, and Hotaru were able to discuss the strange happenings due to the fact that their positions included editing and formatting more than writing actual columns, which they did on occasion as well.

"Scary stuff, huh? I don't think I'll ever go out at night again," Said Yukari, receiving a nod from Hotaru. "What about you two? What do you think about all this?"

"Well, it's bad, but it's going to take more than an article to crack this case. I think it's obvious there is more to this than meets the eye?"

"What do you mean?" Hotaru asked Mizore, who just shrugged.

"The way I see it, there are a number of explanations. It could all be a coincidence, with many unrelated factors boiling down to the same result. As Tsukune said, it could me multiple culprits working together. They may all just be running away, seeking attention, just t come back in a few days. All that and more. I just don't think it's simply abductions, though."

"And what of you, Naruto-san?" asked Yukari, stroking her chin thoughtfully as she took in what Mizore had said while turning to the blond. He, too, had a contemplative look on his face, his gaze pointed at the floor. At the sound of his name, though, he looked up, as if the moments before that didn't exist for him.

"What?" he asked, supporting the theory that he hadn't been listening at all.

Before someone could reel him back into the conversation, though, the door slid open, quiet enough not to disturb the other three in the room, but since the others were closer, they noticed. Kokoa then walked in, moving towards them without taking the time to notice what the others were doing, just sitting at the table with the people she felt closest to.

She looked terrible, as if she hadn't slept well (or at all) the previous night, if the bags under her eyes and her lack of balance as she swayed in her seat were indicators of anything.

"You look like shit," Naruto said off-handedly, though with a small amount of concern in his voice. Kokoa didn't seem to be one who would be out of it for any reason. Something must have really gotten to her. "Tough night?"

"You could say that," Kokoa said, leading the others to believe she would continue. When she didn't, and a tense silence permeated the air around them, Yukari found herself pressing for information.

"So what happened?"

Kokoa remained silent for a moment, debating with herself whether or not to tell the others what was bugging her, before she apparently saw nothing wrong with it.

"Last night... I... saw something. An attack. A creature was attacking a student. I hid, watching, thinking I'd get something on the disappearances, that maybe this guy knew where the others were and was taking this person there, too."

"What kind of creature?" asked Hotaru, but Kokoa only shook her head.

"I don' know, but it as big. Or tall, at least. It seemed lean. Anyway, I was hiding, and I'm sure I didn't make a sound, but it seemed to know I was there. I looked in my direction, its yellow eyes glowing in the dark, and from the silhouette, it seemed like it had a giant mouth stretching up over its head, filled with razor sharp teeth. Before I could do anything though, it disappeared into the for with its victim, into the forest."

"Sounds creepy," said Yukari. "Hey, maybe you could show us where this happened and Naruto-san can go in and beat the guy up. What do you think?"

The last question was directed at the blond, but he and Mizore were to busy sharing a sideways glance. He had finally told her what had happened with Zetsu previously, and with this new information, they were both worried.

"Hey, you guys okay?" the witch asked, only for Naruto to stand up and walk to the door.

"I need to go see something," was all he said, leaving most of the room very confused, and Mizore very concerned for her friends.

(That Night):

"Zetsu, what are you doing?" asked the blond, approaching his friend. The man's disguise was down, his plant appendages showing, and he seemed almost... frightened as he spun around.

"Naruto," the man said, his voice a mixture of a yelp and a growl, before leveling off, "what are you doing here? How did you find me?"

The blond had actually stumbled upon the man while scouting the forests. He had been hoping he wouldn't actually find him, maybe someone else, but it didn't turn out like that.

"Where are the people, Zetsu?" While he really didn't have evidence that Zetsu had anything to do with the disappearances, other than Kokoa's story, which provided circumstantial evidence at best, the blond didn't need it. His friend was unusually violent,he was in the woods now, he wasn't disguised. To Naruto, Zetsu was involved somehow. He wanted to know how.

Zetsu didn't deny involvement.

"They're... no longer around," he said, choosing his words carefully.

"Did you kill them?"

"Yes."

Naruto noticed a pained look come across his friends face, but didn't bring it up. He still needed answers.

"Where are the bodies?"

When he didn't get an answer, Naruto became a bit more forceful in his approach.

"What did you do to them, Zetsu? Why kill them?"

Still no answer. The man was avoiding the blond's gaze now, but wasn't running, wasn't trying to hide the truth. It was like he wanted to tell Naruto, but didn't know how. It just served to piss the blond off, though. This wasn't the Zetsu he thought he knew, being too indecisive, failing to hide it. And, while he wanted to protect his friend, he needed to know what he had done first.

"Zetsu, what did you do?"

"I ate them, okay?" Zetsu yelled back, clearly enraged. While the anger was enough to throw Naruto through a loop, the actual answer left him speechless."Is that what you wanted to hear, that I killed unsuspecting people who never did anything, feasted on them because I lacked self-restraint, kept doing despite knowing what it might lead to?"

"Zetsu, calm down!" Naruto shouted, effectively silencing his friend. Naruto may not have liked the image of Zetsu eating people, but he tried not to judge. Besides, he still didn't know why he was doing it. "Now tell me, why did this star happening?"

There was a moment of silence, as Zetsu realized Naruto wasn't going to run away or try to kill him. Instead, he wanted to hear the story. The man obliged. "Back home, I used to eat the corpses of any dead shinobi I came across. In life, they were tools, possible an enemy. In death, they fueled me, gave me sustenance rich in chakra. I saw no wrong in doing what I did, as their profession had them sacrifice themselves, even after they ceased living. All things considered, worse could have been done. When I came here, though, I tried to stop. The people I saw, they never lived a life where any moment could be their last. Or they weren't fully aware of it, nor were their families. Nothing to really justify eating them except my own cravings. Sure, I dug up a grave or two early on, ate those bodies, but they were... lacking. I soon saw little need in eating the bodies of the people in this world."

"So what happened?" This really didn't disturb Naruto too much, all things considered. He'd mutilated a body or two before, but that was a while ago. As he recalled, it was pretty fun. Maybe he would do it again, but only if the guy really pissed him off and Mizore wasn't there. Even if she were, though, sh may understand. Back to Zetsu, though. That was what was important at the moment.

"Ever since that plant took me over, I've felt as if my inhibitions have been... diminishing. As you saw, I grew increasingly violent, and the cravings came back. Admittedly, I wasn't the best at suppressing my urges, and I often found myself just wandering the academy grounds at night. It didn't help that during that time period, students would occasionally be found heavily injured; they were easy prey."

Naruto quickly concluded that Zetsu was talking about The Slasher's missing victims. If anything, the blond knew what happened to them, and why his friend was so adamant about not mentioning them in the paper. That didn't make the situation any more comforting, though.

"I thought I could stop as soon as we caught those responsible for injuring the students in the first place. After all, I had never really instigated the hunt, only preyed on those already wounded. Normally I would never be desperate enough to actively stalk victims with nothing wrong with them. I'm a scavenger. But then, a few days ago..."

(Several Days Ago):

"Oh, you made it."

"Of course I did," was the curt reply Zetsu gave. In front of him was the girl he had met during club recruitment, poking her head out from behind the door to her workshop to see who her visitor was, but keeping the rest of her body hidden.

"So you've decided to help?" she asked, excitement creeping into her voice, before overflowing and spilling over into a large smile as he nodded. "Oh, thank you, come on in," she said hurriedly, stepping out of sight for a moment as she opened the door more for Zetsu to walk through. "I hope you found this place easily."

"It wasn't too hard to find," he commented, stepping into the large warehouse where the girl had set up shop. Of course, it helped that he had been here before when Naruto had aided in Moka's kidnapping. Still he wasn't thinking that, nor was he thinking of how humid the large space was. He wasn't thinking of how the sunlamps hurt his eyes slightly, or how the temperature continually changed ever so slightly as he walked behind the girl. No, at the moment, he was caught up in how endearing the girl actually was, how happy and active she seemed. It helped that she took good care of her plants.

Speaking of which, as he looked around, he saw rows upon rows of plants, all of different colours, shapes, and sizes, all of which grew in different environments and had different and specific needs. All of which thriving. He noted how for each specimen, there was a thermometer to measure the soil temperature, and one for the air. He also took note of the unique watering system each plant had, ranging from stupidly simple to impossible complex depending on what was needed.

As Zetsu walked behind the girl he wondered what sort of project she needed help with, but, knowing that was where she was taking him, instead asked, "Did you have any luck in getting members for your club?"

"No, unfortunately," she said, not sounding the least bit depressed. "I have to find a club to join by the end of the week. However, the school says I can still use this space for as long as I want to grow my plants."

"That's nice. It would've been a shame for such hard work to go to waste."

"Yeah."

It seemed as if she wanted to ask something, probably about what had happened when they met, but decided against it. That was good, as Zetsu had no desire to discuss it. It wasn't long after that that they came to a door.

"I suggest holding your nose," the girl said as she fiddled with a look on the door. "The smell can be overpowering the first few times."

Zetsu looked on confused as she opened the door and was herded into the room before being closed in with the girl to gaze upon the plant. It was large, easily taller then him, even though it was mostly large petals stretching upwards and surrounding its spadix. The outside of the petals were a light green, while the insides were a deep mauve. Then the stench hit him, one he had become familiar with; it was that of rotting flesh.

Almost immediately after inhaling, the man felt light-headed, wavering on his feet a bit before finding his balance again. The girl didn't notice, just as he didn't notice she was talking to him. When he did realize she had spoken, though, he asked her to repeat.

"I said, 'what do you think of the Titan Arum?'. Impressive, isn't it? I've been having trouble with its offspring, though. The seeds don't seem to want to spout, and I was thinking maybe... hey are you okay?"

By now, Zetsu was sweating heavily, something he blamed on this room being so much more humid than the rest of the warehouse. He was clearly unbalanced again, this time choosing to lean on the wall. He couldn't feel his extremities, a numbness overtaking him as his whole body began trembling, his breathing becoming shallow as he took in more and more of the fragrance. Moreover, he was overcome by an unfathomable emptiness.

The girl, concerned, ran over to his side, trying to see what was wrong with him. She was talking, he could see her lips moving, but he couldn't hear her. It was almost as if he were underwater in that respect, as nothing but that hollow, nonexistent echo filled his ears, and the pressure growing on his chest just strengthened that thought. Then, it all just stopped, as darkness filled his vision.

When he came to, he first became aware of how wet his hands were. That feeling applied to his the area around his mouth as well. Bringing his hands close to his face, his vision started to focus, only for hims to reel back in shock. His hands, and much of his sleeves, were positively drenched in blood. A crimson tendril reached down from his chin, adding to the mess. Then, his eyes adjusted more, allowing Zetsu to take in the sight of the girl, lying on the floor, dead. It wasn't a question of where all the blood came from, especially once he took in all the chunks that seemed to just be 'missing' from all around her body.

Zetsu felt sick with himself. This was in part because it was very rare for him to kill capable prey in the first place. It was more than that, though. This girl was probably one of the last people this deserved to happen to. She knew him for so little time, and so quickly accepted him, showing him a place like this warehouse. And after so long of keeping his urges in check, denying himself of what his base instinct told him... it was a harsh blow.

Now wasn't the time to think of this, though. He had to think logically. First things first, dispose of the body, get rid of an evidence. He would work from there. Now that his urge was once again sated,he could suppress it again. Then again, would this really be enough to satisfy him? It also wasn't a good idea to just quit cold-turkey best take things slow. No, he had to restrain himself from further actions like this. Of course, he still had the body in front of him. Best to take care of that first before he come to a decision.

(Present Time):

"The adrenaline that comes with killing someone who could just as easily kill you... it's almost as addicting as the taste and sensations the consumption itself brings. And after killing her, someone I could see as a friend, I really had no trouble with doing the same to any random student. It really was more of a blood frenzy than anything, and believe me,as much as I would like to stop...well, these urges were hard to contain before I started killing. Now that I've let it run rampant, though..."

"So you're saying you can't quit just like that?" asked Naruto, contemplating everything Zetsu said. He didn't hate the man, or blame him for his actions. This was just the way he was. However, for the first time since he had met him, Zetsu was showing a bit of vulnerability. He was saying he didn't want to be this way.

"I would go crazy if I just tried to quit," the man replied, a hint of anger in his voice, suggesting that he wasn't too pleased with either the prospect or the fact that he felt he had little choice."

To this the blonde nodded, apparently having come to a decision. Without hesitation, he removed his shirt, the cool night air having no effect on him. Then, running his hand along his tattoo, he released his sword, grasping it tightly in his left hand.

A bit alarmed by the action, Zetsu jumped back and prepared for a fight, all the while looking for a viable escape route. Phasing into the ground would take too long, and at the moment, the blond could probably reach him. The man was more than a bit disheartened by the turn of events as well. He thought Naruto of all people would understand, being the way he was. However, since his life was now in danger, he supposed he was wrong in that assumption.

Before he could work the situation out, though, Naruto acted, bringing his sword down in a sharp and deadly arc. The swing wasn't directed at Zetsu, though, and didn't come anywhere close tho reaching him, something that confused the man. Instead of attacking, Naruto had brought his blade down on his own arm, having stopped once it had reached bone.

Grunting as he removed the blade, he brought it down again, growling to muffle a pained gasp as he snapped through the bone. With a final, hurried strike, Naruto severed his right arm completely, midway between his shoulder and elbow. Not bothering to stem the bleeding, the blond picked up his limp and tossed it to Zetsu, who looked on with confusion as he caught it.

"Don't worry; it'll regenerate in half-an-hour or so," the blond said, sealing his blade as he gathered his clothes and threw them over his left shoulder to avoid getting them bloody. "That should be enough to tide you over for now. I'll make sure to feed you at least once a day, more if you need it, until you think you're ready to stop. We'll get through this don't worry."

And with that, Naruto simply left, leaving a confused and significantly touched Zetsu. He would never forget this act of kindness.

/

So yeah, if the ending doesn't really flow, it's because I went through several versions of that little section, and didn't really consult Lykaos on any of them. Also, needless to so, I won't be visiting this for a while, reason being the chapter I plan will be long. But it needs to be, especially if I'm going to ft the lemon in. That's right perverts, you patience has paid off. Seeing as it will be my first lemon, I'm going to take my time with it, make it classy, get it right. Also, for those wondering, 6,000 yen is equivalent to 77 U.S. dollars. I don't actually know if that's a realistic figure. Anyway, the next stories I will work on are the ones that won the poll. If you don't know what I'm talking about, either because you usually don't read these, or because I was an idiot and never mentioned a poll on this story, I ran a poll about 17 months back for about a year. For those who know what I'm talking about, Blind Them, Kazuki! will be updated first. I still need a beta for both it and Hand of the Artist. If you're interested, just tell me, because I'm not going to actively search for one. Besides, this method get fans involved, by sheer virtue that they are annoyed by the errors I make and want to do something about it.

Before I go, I know most all of you are more than a little tired with Konjyoyaki. I want it to be known now, he will play part next chapter (fight scene) if all goes to plan. This will be his last big fight, and after that, he'll really only play one more big part before he get's killed off. For those of you who are complaining of spoilers of of me 'giving in', I think I made it pretty clear early on that he was going to die before the series was over, and had this planned before I actually introduced him in this story. For those of you who actually read Bloody Prayer and think I'll pull the same trick as in chapter 7 somewhere along the line in this saga's progression, no, he'll be dead for good, and you won't see him in any subsequent sequels. Other unrelated stories, unlikely, but if he does turn up, his part will be small, or he'll be portrayed as a more realistic antagonist. After all, I've created all the O.C.s I'm going to with this story, might as well recycle them in others (Colban is the exception to the rule, for reasons I think are obvious). Now, since I don't really have the chapters after next all laid out, I'm only estimating, but I'd say overall, Konjyoyaki only has six chapters left really. I'll end it on that, letting you contemplate that information and really count the time left Konjyoyaki has to live. See you later.

Also, this chapter totals 17,983 words. Fuck...


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